As a pro-Palestinian bicycle protest against Jewish-owned businesses in Philadelphia geared up to roll, New York leaders and Jewish organizations joined the chorus of cries condemning the event — shockingly set to occur Sunday on the eve of an infamous Nazi pogrom.
Dubbed the “Boycott Ride,” organized by a group called Philly Biking on The Left, the protest will target six eateries in Rittenhouse Square in Philly’s Center City district, including a mac ’n’ cheese place, a burger bistro and a vegan falafel joint.
“No business for Zionists! These Zionist establishments must go!” the group’s Instagram post promoting the event rails. Amid backlash, their Instagram page has since been taken down — raising some doubt the event would occur — though the event flier has been reposted by neveragainus, an antisemitism watchdog group. Meanwhile, allies of the bike group on Friday continued to post “in solidarity” about the boycott ride.
The pedaling protest was set to kick off at noon Sunday, on the anniversary of the eve of Kristallnacht, or “The Night of Broken Glass,” when sledgehammer-wielding Nazis in 1938 destroyed or vandalized more than 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses and 1,000 synagogues in Germany.
“Targeting businesses simply because their owners are Jewish is antisemitic and wrong,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin told the Daily News. “Doing so on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht — when Nazis orchestrated the destruction of thousands of Jewish businesses, homes and houses of worship — makes this action even more abhorrent. I strongly condemn the organizers’ hateful plans and rhetoric.”
The daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Menin is the Council’s first Jewish speaker.
A sidewalk in Berlin, Germany, after anti-Jewish demonstrations on Nov. 10, 1938. (AP Photo)
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal slammed the event as “a hate crime on wheels.”
“I think it’s horrifying and absolutely despicable to target anyone for their background, whether it be their religion or ethnicity or their country of origin, and that’s apparently what’s happening in Philadelphia,” said Hoylman-Sigal, who is a convert to Judaism.
“The timing of Kristallnacht, where businesses were targeted and homes were destroyed by the Nazis, I mean, it couldn’t be more upsetting to not only target businesses, but on that eve is absolutely outrageous.”
Mayor Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is based in Manhattan, posting on X, called the ride “Jew-hatred, plain and simple.”
“This is absolutely vile,” Greenblatt said. “A group in Philadelphia is organizing a ‘Boycott Ride’ to publicly target Jewish and Israeli-owned businesses, urging participants to ‘show these zio business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are.’
“And when are they planning to do this? On the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht,” he said. “The timing alone should make your stomach turn. It is Jew-hatred, plain and simple, and it should outrage every person of conscience.”
People are pictured in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia in 2023. (Matthew Lovette / Jumping Rocks / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the New York-based Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told The News, “Targeting Jewish-owned businesses in Philly under the guise of protesting “Zionists” or Israel is transparently antisemitic — and does nothing to advance Palestinian rights or peace, instead further dividing our communities.”
In a LinkedIn post, Spitalnick said “the vast majority” of Jewish Americans “believe Israel should exist.”
“That is what Zionism is to me and to many,” she wrote, “despite how the word has been used as a pejorative and twisted in the public conversation: a belief that there should be a Jewish homeland. For me and many others, this Jewish self-determination must go hand-in-hand with Palestinian self-determination.”
The New York elected officials and Jewish organizations joined Keystone State leaders in blasting the boycott ride, including Governor Josh Shapiro, Philly Mayor Cherelle Parker, City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Senator John Fetterman.
In a Facebook post, Shapiro’s office said, “This bike ride, masquerading as a protest to advance the cause of justice, is nothing more than blatant antisemitism designed to intimidate and drive Jewish businesses out of our communities, and there is no place for that in our Commonwealth.”
Meanwhile, groups in support of the boycott ride posted “a joint statement of solidarity” on Instagram. They included Writers Against the War in Gaza, area student and faculty groups, and Yogis for Palestine, among others. The statement conspicuously does not mention Israel, only referring to the “genocidal state.”
“We stand with the organizers of the Boycott Ride, a small group of bicyclists against genocide who have been doxxed and villainized by social media Zionists and self-serving politicians,” they said. “As this Boycott Ride shows, Philadelphians increasingly reject normalization of the genocidal state and are moved to turn their principles into action. … Zionism is a failed ideology no matter how hard those in power deny it. Palestine will be free.”