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Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant in Bay Bridge, Brooklyn — considered to be one of the city’s top new restaurants — took to Instagram this week to share allegations that it had been getting unfairly harassed online.
Owner Abdul Elenani told Eater that on Saturday he began getting notifications from his staff that they were receiving repeat calls from someone claiming they were “refused service for being Israeli.” Elenani says he took the accusation seriously and asked his staff to find the person’s number. He then reached out to the caller directly, who claimed to have a video of the alleged incident that he was threatening to post online. The video — which Elenani believes did not exist to begin with — was never posted, and, instead, within a few-hour period, Ayat began getting dozens of one-star Google reviews and calls from blocked numbers with “anti-Palestinian” sentiments.
Elenani told Eater he feels that even calling his restaurant “Palestinian” opens his business up to potential harassment, despite the fact that “Palestinian culture and food has been around for thousands years.” Since he posted on Instagram, there is now a viral TikTok rallying for support of Ayat and customers have flooded his page, adding more five-star reviews.
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Queer Soup Night is back
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