The Jewish owner of New York City-area supermarket chain Morton Williams said his cashiers were tipped off by pro-Palestinian protesters who vandalized their Israeli produce section following calls to protest their store near Columbia University.
Morton Williams co-owner Avi Kaner told The Post it hurt to see one of the stores his family has run for decades the target of hate from two women who entered the supermarket on Broadway in Morningside Heights on Wednesday.
“You have a right to your opinion. You don’t have a right to damage private property,” Kaner said. “These actions are blatantly antisemitic. They need to be called out.”
Kaner, a Columbia University alumna, said the women put on pandemic face masks as soon as they entered the store and headed to the Israeli products section to slap a sticker that read, “Every time the media lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies.”
Kaner said that when his workers told the two women to stop and leave, they began berating the workers and shouting about the Israel-Hamas war.
Two masked women are accused of vandalizing the Israeli produce section of a Morton Williams supermarket near Columbia University.X / @AviKaner Both allegedly continued to yell at store employees who told them to stop.X / @AviKaner
The store has contacted Columbia security and the NYPD about the incident.
The meeting inside the supermarket came as Morton Williams, which has 14 stores across Manhattan, was named as a boycott target by the groups Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, which was recently suspended for anti-Israel rallies.
The group asked shoppers to avoid Morton Williams because the company boasts that it “proudly imports from Israel.”
The student group also condemned the supermarket chain’s decision to cut Ben & Jerry’s products after the company cut ties with Israel.
Morton Williams, Starbucks and Sweetgreen are all listed as boycott targets by the groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
The students went on to criticize one of Kaner’s friends for stating that “Israel is the only real democracy in the Middle East that is trying to survive against hostile neighbors who want to destroy it.”
Since protests began over the weekend, Kaner said the Columbia store “has been significantly hurt.”
“Since Saturday we’ve seen business slow down, and it’s affecting our revenue,” Kaner said.
Morton Williams near the Columbia campus has seen fewer customers since the boycott began, according to its co-owner. Google Maps
The co-owner of Morton Williams said he was disappointed to see students from his alma mater promoting division and trying to turn the community against his family’s business.
Kaner noted that the Columbia store remained open 24/7 even during the pandemic to help meet the needs of the struggling community and students, so seeing his store affected by the boycott was painful.
“It makes no sense for students at an elite, Ivy League school to support terrorists and spread a message of hate in our community,” Kaner said.
“They are trying to silence us through bullying and threats, but we will not give in to the bullies,” he added.
Suspended college group members urge shoppers to avoid Starbucks locations in NYC.JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Along with Morton Williams, the student group also called on shoppers to avoid Starbucks and the Sweetgreen restaurant chain, accusing them of targeting pro-Palestinian protesters.
Representatives for Starbucks and Sweetgreen did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
In addition to hurting his business, Kaner fears the boycott could spread further incidents of antisemitism in the Big Apple.
On Tuesday, someone at Columbia University received an anonymous letter from Texas that read, “Heil Hitler. The Jewish f–king started World War III. Columbia Jew College, the land of a thousand Jews,” a police source told The Post.
The NYPD also confirmed an incident at CUNY City College on November 3 where antisemitic graffiti was found on the walls of the school’s library.
The NYPD reported at least 69 anti-Jewish incidents in October, more than triple the number from the previous year.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
