OAKLAND — Federal prosecutors on Monday sued the owners of the Jerusalem Coffee House in North Oakland, claiming they discriminated against Jewish customers and twice ordered people who wore hats emblazoned with the Star of David to leave.
The U.S. Justice Department’s civil lawsuit against Fathi Abdulrahim Harara and Native Grounds LLC centers on multiple encounters that happened in summer and fall 2024, according to the complaint filed in federal court. Prosecutors also said the coffee shop sold a drink that appeared to reference the former leader of Hamas who helped planned the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In a news release announcing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the filing was part of the justice department’s work combatting antisemitism, adding that “it is illegal, intolerable, and reprehensible for any American business open to the public to refuse to serve Jewish customers.”
Attempts by this newspaper to reach the owners of the cafe — which is closed on Mondays — were not successful.
The coffee shop opened in 2023 with a host of drinks inspired by Palestinian culture, including a coffee drink called Bebsi and a date-tahini latte. At the time, Harara touted it as a “vibrant cultural hub for Palestinian and Islamic thought.”
Federal prosecutors claim that in June 2024, a person sitting outside the coffee shop verbally berated a man who approached wearing a hat with the Star of David on it. Two months later, when the man returned without wearing the hat, an employee allegedly ordered him to leave, saying, “You’re the guy with the hat. You’re the Jew. You’re the Zionist. We don’t want you in our coffee shop. Get out,” according to the lawsuit.
In October 2024, Harara allegedly told a different man wearing a hat with the Star of David on it to leave, after asking whether he was a “Zionist,” the lawsuit said.
Federal prosecutors also noted the names of the cafe’s drinks in their lawsuit, suggesting that one appeared to be a play on the term “infitada,” while another appeared to reference Yahya Sinwar, an architect of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
