{"id":323333,"date":"2026-11-07T22:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T22:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/323333\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T22:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T22:16:09","slug":"ny-leaders-decry-boycott-bike-ride-targeting-jewish-businesses-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/323333\/","title":{"rendered":"NY leaders decry boycott bike ride targeting Jewish businesses in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 shockingly set to occur Sunday on the eve of an infamous Nazi pogrom.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the \u201cBoycott Ride,\u201d organized by a group called Philly Biking on The Left, the protest will target six eateries<\/a> in Rittenhouse Square in Philly\u2019s Center City district, including a mac \u2019n\u2019 cheese place, a burger bistro and a vegan falafel joint.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo business for Zionists! These Zionist establishments must go!\u201d the group\u2019s Instagram post promoting the event rails. Amid backlash, their Instagram page has since been taken down \u2014 raising some doubt the event would occur \u2014 though the event flier has been reposted<\/a> by neveragainus, an antisemitism watchdog group. Meanwhile, allies of the bike group on Friday continued to post \u201cin solidarity\u201d about<\/a> the boycott ride.<\/p>\n

The pedaling protest was set to kick off at noon Sunday, on the anniversary of the eve of Kristallnacht, or \u201cThe Night of Broken Glass,\u201d when sledgehammer-wielding Nazis in 1938 destroyed or vandalized more than 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses and 1,000 synagogues in Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cTargeting businesses simply because their owners are Jewish is antisemitic and wrong,\u201d City Council Speaker Julie Menin told the Daily News. \u201cDoing so on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht \u2014 when Nazis orchestrated the destruction of thousands of Jewish businesses, homes and houses of worship \u2014 makes this action even more abhorrent. I strongly condemn the organizers\u2019 hateful plans and rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

The daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Menin is the Council\u2019s first Jewish speaker.<\/p>\n

\"AA sidewalk in Berlin, Germany, after anti-Jewish demonstrations on Nov. 10, 1938. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal slammed the event as \u201ca hate crime on wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s horrifying and absolutely despicable to target anyone for their background, whether it be their religion or ethnicity or their country of origin, and that\u2019s apparently what\u2019s happening in Philadelphia,\u201d said Hoylman-Sigal, who is a convert to Judaism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing of Kristallnacht, where businesses were targeted and homes were destroyed by the Nazis, I mean, it couldn\u2019t be more upsetting to not only target businesses, but on that eve is absolutely outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is based in Manhattan, posting on X<\/a>, called the ride \u201cJew-hatred, plain and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is absolutely vile,\u201d Greenblatt said. \u201cA group in Philadelphia is organizing a \u2018Boycott Ride\u2019 to publicly target Jewish and Israeli-owned businesses, urging participants to \u2018show these zio business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when are they planning to do this? On the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht,\u201d he said. \u201cThe timing alone should make your stomach turn. It is Jew-hatred, plain and simple, and it should outrage every person of conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople are pictured in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia in 2023. (Matthew Lovette \/ Jumping Rocks \/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Amy Spitalnick<\/a>, CEO of the New York-based Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told The News, \u201cTargeting Jewish-owned businesses in Philly under the guise of protesting \u201cZionists\u201d or Israel is transparently antisemitic \u2014 and does nothing to advance Palestinian rights or peace, instead further dividing our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a LinkedIn post, Spitalnick said \u201cthe vast majority\u201d of Jewish Americans \u201cbelieve Israel should exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what Zionism is to me and to many,\u201d she wrote, \u201cdespite 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post<\/a>, Shapiro\u2019s office said, \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, groups in support of the boycott ride posted \u201ca joint statement of solidarity\u201d<\/a> 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 \u201cgenocidal state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d they said. \u201cAs this Boycott Ride shows, Philadelphians increasingly reject normalization of the genocidal state and are moved to turn their principles into action. \u2026 Zionism is a failed ideology no matter how hard those in power deny it. Palestine will be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

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