“I have many political disagreements with Congressman Goldman,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani told Politico on Tuesday. “I think that what we saw online goes beyond that.”
The “online” part was an Instagram post from Poetica Coffee, a local chain, showing Rep. Dan Goldman at its Williamsburg branch in Brooklyn. The caption said the shop did not serve “racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers or anyone in between.” Poetica added that Goldman would have been turned away had staff recognized him right away, and said it had refunded his money, which it called “probably coming from AIPAC.”
Mamdani’s comment was the extent of what he said. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that he did not respond to a request for comment on the incident.
A primary two days later
The timing mattered. Goldman was fighting for his seat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in New York’s 10th Congressional District, one of the most progressive and most Jewish districts in the country. His opponent, former city comptroller Brad Lander, has been far more critical of Israel, and Mamdani had endorsed him. An Emerson College poll showed Goldman trailing Lander by 34 percentage points.
Poetica’s post set off a backlash from Jewish leaders and a pile of negative Yelp reviews. The shop shared death threats it had received, and its Instagram account was then deactivated.
Goldman answered the post in a comment before it came down. A barista, he wrote, had let his 7-year-old daughter use the bathroom although they had bought nothing. “I made sure to buy a coffee in return for her kindness,” he said. “I hope you at least make sure she gets the tip that she deserved.”
Washington steps in
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, announced on Monday that her office had opened an investigation into what she called the shop’s “denial of service taunts.” She wrote on X that federal law bars public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on race, religion or national origin.
Goldman was not enthusiastic about the probe either. “I would rather they spend their time and resources investigating antisemitism against people who do not have a platform that I do, who are not elected officials,” he told CNN. “I don’t ask for the antisemitism, but I’m a public figure and I can accept the criticism.” He has previously accused the Trump administration of “weaponizing” the Justice Department against the president’s political opponents.
Lander came to Goldman’s defense. “There are plenty of ways to lobby elected officials and express outrage at the votes they’ve taken without turning coffee shops into places people don’t feel welcome,” he said. He added that he was glad Poetica took down the post and thought Goldman’s reply was “extremely gracious.”
Sources
- DOJ Probes Brooklyn Coffee Shop After Antisemitic Ban of Rep. Goldman – American Voter Polls News
- DOJ investigates coffee shop that banned Rep. Goldman as his support for Israel threatens to topple his reelection bid – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
