New Yorkers have come together to support Effy’s Cafe, a popular American-Israeli restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, days after it was defaced with graffiti depicting a slew of antisemitic messages.
The restaurant’s manager, Ben Zara, arrived at work on the morning of March 17 to find hateful messages scrawled on to the property, located at 104 West 96 St., between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. Red paint, which seemed to depict blood, was splashed on the storefront gates, alongside messages that read “Form line here to support genocide,” and “free Gaza” on the sidewalk in front of the cafe.
The graffiti was drawn in red, black and green paints, which are also the colors of the Palestinian flag.
According to the West Side Rag, police said the incident is under investigation and the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force has been notified.
Supporting Effy’s Cafe as a community
The next day, March 18, a group of approximately 20 New Yorkers gathered at the vandalized restaurant to help with clean-up efforts, some of them frequent customers of Effy’s, while many others were there to stand in solidarity against antisemitism. Using baking soda and other cleaning supplies, they immediately got to scrubbing the hate off the sidewalk cement and gates.
Hindy Poupko, senior vice president for community strategy and external relations of the UJA Federation of New York, was there when people were cleaning up and described what she experienced. When she saw the images of the hateful messages circulating in social media neighborhood groups starting on Sunday, she was taken aback.
“Sunday evening was quite chilling,” Poupko said. “Many people were quite concerned about what had taken place. What was gratifying, however, was that the next day, there were volunteers who were already on scene cleaning up the paint and the graffiti, which is always incredibly heartwarming to see New Yorkers of all backgrounds showing up in that…
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