Fayes Coffee was “review bombed” earlier this month after an employee wrote a message in support of Gaza and Palestine on a chalkboard outside the cafe’s 18th Street entrance.
“Solidarity with Gaza. From the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” the board read on Oct. 7, the same day Hamas militants invaded Israel, eventually killing more than 1,400 Israelis. Israel’s subsequent bombing of Gaza has killed more than 4,000 Palestinians.
The sandwich board’s message — “from the river to the sea” — is a decades-long slogan of Palestinian liberation, used by Palestinians and their allies. But for many Israelis and Israel supporters, the slogan is seen as a veiled shorthand for the eradication of the state of Israel.
A customer saw the message and complained to the staff about it, said Michael McConnell, the store’s owner. Later, images of the chalkboard and complaints were circulated in Jewish Facebook groups, resulting in a bluster of more than 400 negative one star reviews on Yelp, and others on Google.
The message is no longer up, but the effect was immediate: Fayes’ rating had plummeted.
“This place supports terrorists!!” read one of the recent one-star reviews, along with others claiming the same. Others did not mention terrorism at all, instead lambasting the coffee, food and table service (which, as a takeout coffee shop, Fayes does not offer).
“The worst coffee I’ve ever had, spend your money elsewhere. The service was rude and unpleasant,” read another, posted by someone based in New York City. Most commenters came from outside San Francisco, possibly never having visited the cafe.
At the same time, the cafe received complaints and threats over the phone, from callers across the country like Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago, said McConnell. Some even called from Israel.
“Most of our regular customers had no idea anything was going on,” said McConnell.
In defense of the cafe, however, Food Not Bombs — a local food distribution collective — posted on Instagram the very next day, calling for users to write positive reviews in support of the staff at Fayes.
“This place is getting flooded with fake reviews over its pro-Palestinian stance, and is no representation of the quality of coffee and people that work here,” read one of the recent — positive — reviews on Yelp.
All of the recent reviews — good and bad — were later removed from Google, said McConnell. While all of those on Yelp remain visible, new comments have been suspended: A pop-up message on the page reads, “unusual activity alert.”
The cafe’s rating is back up, slightly, to a middling two-and-a-half stars.
Fayes has been a mainstay in the neighborhood since it opened 25 years ago, originally as a video store. The shop sells coffee and pastries, and sometimes still rents movies from its remaining DVD collection.
All of its employees live close by, know customers by name and are involved in the community, said McConnell.
McConnell joked that Fayes is “the ugly stepkid on the block,” a ruffian compared to some of the more upscale eateries across the street; and one that still offers $1 coffee on the menu.
But the online retaliation was a significant source of stress for the cafe’s owners and staff, who were shaken up, McConnell said. Some employees still feel unsafe going to work, he said, to a place that is known in the community for being safe and inclusive.
“If anyone knew who we were, they wouldn’t be saying this,” he said.
We’re all so polarized these days. Can’t I just get a cup of coffee from a neighborhood coffee shop without having to be confronted by someone else’s hot take about a bloody conflict that has the potential to spiral into World War 3? Yes, I have my own opinions on the issue. But I don’t have such an inflated sense of self importance to think that expressing it here, or in chalk on a San Francisco sidewalk, will do a damn thing to bring peace to a distant part of the world that badly needs it. I know as a City we are all about saying “yes” to everyone expressing their opinion. But sometimes self-restraint is a virtue too.
still the best coffee on the block…..
Free Palestine!!
Israel claims self-determination is the sole right of Jewish Israeli citizens, while also claiming their rights in the West Bank and Jerusalem supercede that of Palestinians, leaving Palestinian Israeli citizens with diminished rights and millions of other Palestinians without rights to sovereignty, security, or a right to citizenship; but “from the river to the sea” is a call for eradication and not a call for the Palestinian right to exist without discrimination and persecution. Yeah, sure.
Zionists would not be attacking and intimidating critics were they not scared that Israel was becoming less and less legitimate over time. They would not need an AIPAC or troll armies were Israel on the level.
Great coffee at a great price sold by great people with their heads on straight.
All these idiotas are mad about some war, and want to take their shit slinging to the internet comment sections, because they’re cowards.
Of course, it was also pretty stupid to post a chalk sign admitting you “sided with one side” and not the other. It’s like people “supporting Ukraine..” like there aren’t innocent people in Russia suffering?
Y’all need to WAKE THE FUCK UP. The problem is your greedy ass governments, NOT A CHALK SIGN AT A COFFEE SHOP.
This article is severely misguided, as are some of the comments supporting it. The cafe posted this sign on 10/7, the day 1400 people died at the hands of Hamas. To proclaim “solidarity with Gaza” and use a slogan most naturally understood as calling for destruction of Israel after such a horrific event is condoning and supporting that violence.
And if this business chooses to have that public position, they should not be surprised that many members of the community expressed disaaproval.
“But the online retaliation was a significant source of stress for the cafe’s owners and staff, who were shaken up, McConnell said. Some employees still feel unsafe going to work,”
Maybe now they know how it feels to be Jewish in the Bay Area this month.
And maybe they should seek a job at a place that doesn’t “make them feel unsafe.” Maybe they miss the “safe space” at their community college?
Calling for Israel’s elimination on the day of Hamas’ horrific attack — this place deserves every negative review it received.
Do you really want to applaud the collective punishment of an entire business because you don’t like the actions of at most a couple of employees? I sure hope not.
I’ve never been to this place & don’t post on yelp….”Solidarity with Gaza is fine but “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” does mean “No Israel”, exactly. That shouldn’t be allowed and yes management is where the buck stops
What is it progressives love to say when cancelling someone? “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.”
Why is this week different from all other weeks for Jews in the Bay Area? It is not. Zionist hystericals are as humiliated that those they oppress finally struck back just as those in the US were aghast that people struck back against the US for its brutality in the SW Asian oil patch.
“the slogan is seen as a veiled shorthand for the eradication of the state of Israel”
Are you kidding? It’s not veiled at all! This slogan calls for the eradication of Israel. That’s what the people who say it mean, and they are proud about that. For Mission Local to claim that this understanding of the slogan is merely the way it is “seen” by “many Israelis and Israel supporters” reveals Mission Local’s own bias and anti-Semitism. Shame, shame, shame.
Sir or madam —
It’s not clear that everyone who uses this phrase understands those connotations. But let me make this clear: Your complaints that this publication — which I edit — is “antisemitic” are crassly stupid and reflect far more poorly on you than on us.
Best,
JE
That phrase is not understood as, or intended to mean the eradication of Jewish people an overwhelmingly majority of the time. In the same way that black lives matter doesn’t mean that white lives don’t matter.