
Six Jewish-owned restaurants in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse neighborhood were targeted for a boycott bike protest on November 8 — the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night Nazi mobs destroyed Jewish businesses across Germany and Austria in 1938. The organizers picked that date. They knew what it meant.
So did Philadelphia.
Counter-protesters flooded the Rittenhouse neighborhood in numbers that turned the boycott into the most successful advertising campaign those restaurants have ever had. Wait times hit two hours per establishment. One supporter who drove down from New York told the New York Post why he came: "I wanted to support all these restaurants." He added what the restaurant owners were telling him: "They said we've never seen it like this before. It's the biggest bust of a boycott there is."
The Democratic Socialists of America watched their antisemitic stunt collapse in real time — and issued a statement that tells you everything about where their heads are. The DSA complained that "from Senator Fetterman and Congressman Boyle to Governor Shapiro, Mayor Parker, and Council President Johnson, politicians have joined a chorus of bad-faith and dangerous conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism."
That's a sitting governor, a sitting senator, a mayor, a congressman, and a city council president — all Democrats, by the way — who told the DSA their protest was antisemitic. The DSA's response was to call that observation "bad-faith." Organizing a boycott of Jewish businesses on the anniversary of the most infamous boycott of Jewish businesses in modern history, and the people pointing out the connection are acting in bad faith.
One restaurant in the area, The Goat, apparently had an employee who put up a sign supporting the boycott. The restaurant's response was immediate. The employee was terminated on-site. The Goat posted on Instagram: "This sign was put up without management approval. We are ashamed of this incident and want to make it clear that our restaurant is a welcoming space for everyone."
Fired. Same day. No review process, no sensitivity training, no internal investigation. Just gone. That's how normal businesses respond to employees who support boycotting people for being Jewish.
Senator John Fetterman — not exactly a conservative darling — condemned the protest. Governor Josh Shapiro condemned it. Mayor Cherelle Parker condemned it. This wasn't a right-left issue. This was the DSA standing alone on an island made entirely of their own choices, furious that the rest of the political spectrum could read a calendar.
November 9, 1938: Nazis smashed Jewish storefronts across two countries. November 8, 2026: Philadelphia lined up for two hours to eat at them.


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