A group called Philly Bike On Your Left organized a boycott ride through Philadelphia on November 8, targeting six Jewish-owned restaurants they wanted to punish for the crime of existing while Jewish. More than 1,000 people showed up to the same restaurants that day — to eat.
The boycott became a block party.
The restaurants targeted were Goldie, K'Far, Dizengoff, Huda, Mac Mart, and Schlesinger's Deli — all part of or connected to the CookNSolo restaurant group co-founded by Israeli-American chef Michael Solomonov. The group's offense, according to the boycott organizers, was Solomonov's Israeli heritage and his restaurants' existence in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. That was the whole case.
Hundreds of counterprotesters gathered early and lined the route. By the time the boycott riders pedaled through, they were outnumbered by the crowd waiting to spend money at the very businesses they wanted to shut down. As reported by 100 Percent Fed Up, the counter-protest swelled to more than 1,000 supporters, many of whom went inside and ordered.
Three protesters were arrested. Two police officers suffered minor injuries.
The timing was not subtle. November 8 falls one day before the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht — November 9-10, 1938 — the Nazi-organized pogrom that destroyed Jewish businesses across Germany. Organizing a boycott of Jewish-owned restaurants the day before that anniversary is the kind of historical awareness that answers itself.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's office called the boycott "antisemitism masquerading as a justice protest." Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said the city should "reject attempts to intimidate Jewish residents and businesses." Both statements came the same day — bipartisan, immediate, and unambiguous.
The boycott organizers framed this as anti-Israel activism. The target list tells a different story. These aren't defense contractors or government offices. They're restaurants. Falafel shops. A deli. The connection to Israeli policy is one man's nationality. Strip away the political language and what's left is a group of people on bicycles trying to economically punish Jewish business owners in an American city.
Solomonov, for his part, didn't need to say much. His restaurants did the talking. The lines out the door were longer than anything the boycott could have generated through normal weekend traffic. Social media posts from journalists on the scene, including footage from @ScooterCasterNY and @Osint613, showed the counterprotesters filling sidewalks and packing dining rooms.
The pattern is familiar. Activist groups pick a target, announce a campaign, generate press coverage — and then watch as the backlash dwarfs the original action. It happened with Chick-fil-A. It happened with Goya. Now it's happened with six restaurants in Philadelphia that most people outside the city had never heard of until a bike club decided to boycott them.
Michael Solomonov's restaurants are still open. The lines are longer. The boycott organizers got three arrests and a ratio.
The 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht passed with Jewish-owned restaurants in Philadelphia doing record business.