11 December 2023 , 08:00
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A coffee shop has fired three employees after they were caught on camera blocking a Jewish customer from using the toilet.
The baristas at Farley’s East Coffee Shop in Oakland, California, stopped a woman from entering the bathroom to take a picture of the writing, which said "Zionism = Fascism" and "your neutrality is enabling genocide."
The Jewish customer was stunned after staff repeatedly scolded her for trying to enter the bathroom and told her to leave the "private property." One of the employees said: "I know Israel loves taking private property and saying it's their own, but we gotta head."
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Employees at the coffee shop blocked a Jewish customer from using a bathroom
A video showed staff making anti-Israel commentsThe woman responds in disbelief: "You are not going to let me in the restroom?" She is then asked to leave once again by the worker in the yellow hat who accuses the woman of misgendering a colleague. The argument continued and the woman - referring to the graffiti inside - asked: "Why are you afraid that I will take a picture of it if you agree with it?"
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It eventually prompts the staff to let her into the bathroom, where the woman films the writing that has been scrawled on a toilet mirror and baby changing table. As she zooms in, one of the employees shouts: "History didn't start in 1948 lady" about the year the State of Israel was established. Once the customer obtained the video footage, the woman was marched out of the bathroom while the staff shouted "Free Palestine"' at her.
The customer wanted to take a picture of the comments on the wall
Employees blocked her from entering the bathroomFinally, the family-owned cafe issued a groveling apology and said it had taken "corrective measures" against the employees. But following a huge backlash, the staff have now been sacked.
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In a statement, Amy and Chris Hillyard, the owners of Farley's, said: "On Sunday, we fell short of this vision [where community-building and placemaking would create a safe space where anyone and everyone feels welcome].
"What began as a civil dialogue between our staff and a Jewish customer escalated into a situation that was shocking and unacceptable. Events like these strike fear in the Jewish community and perpetuate the rise of anti-Semitism in our community and around the world.
"We do not tolerate any behavior at Farley's that makes people feel unwelcome or unsafe. Because this act was not aligned with our values, the employees involved in the incident are no longer employed by Farley's."
Farley's made a groveling apology (Google Maps)Farley's East was forced to publicly apologise for the incident after a statement on Facebook - but had refused to sack the employees involved until now.
"We want to offer an acknowledgment involved and a sincere apology. As context, hate speech graffiti was written in our bathroom. We do not support hate speech; this does not reflect our values,' the café said in a statement on Facebook.
"After a customer used the bathroom and wished to return to document the graffiti, they were initially denied access and then allowed to enter the bathroom to film the graffiti.
"We apologise for this error and the distress caused to the customer. We've taken corrective measures with our staff and removed the offensive graffiti. We're not anti-Semitic; we value diversity and inclusivity. We're committed to ongoing staff training for a safe and welcoming environment.'
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