Press Release: NJAC Calls on Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Law Enforcement to Prepare for "Boycott Ride" Targeting Six Jewish-Owned Businesses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2026
CONTACT:
National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC)
Phone: (332) 278-1100
Email: press@njaclaw.org
NJAC CALLS ON PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PREPARE FOR “BOYCOTT RIDE” TARGETING SIX JEWISH-OWNED BUSINESSES
Organizers separately placed on notice to preserve evidence ahead of the November 8 ride and an announced November 15 “ride of return”
PHILADELPHIA — The National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) has asked the Philadelphia District Attorney, the Philadelphia Police Department, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General to take four concrete steps before Sunday, November 8, 2026, when a publicly organized “Boycott Ride” is scheduled to reach six Jewish-owned Philadelphia restaurants named on its flyer. In a second letter sent the same day, NJAC placed the ride’s organizers on notice of their duty to preserve evidence.
The November 5 letter, addressed to District Attorney Lawrence S. Krasner, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, and Attorney General David W. Sunday Jr., describes a flyer that places red prohibition symbols over six named businesses — Mac Mart, K’Far Cafe, Huda, Goldie, Dizengoff, and Schlesinger’s — above the words “NO BUSINESS FOR ZIONISTS!” and “THESE ZIONIST ESTABLISHMENTS MUST GO! NOT IN OUR CITY!” The accompanying Instagram post told followers the ride would “show these zio business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are.” The ride is scheduled on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
NJAC’s letter notes that the organizers themselves explained how the six were chosen: asked on Instagram to add more businesses, an organizer said the six were selected for their biking proximity to Rittenhouse Square. No conduct criterion was offered, and nothing on the flyer identifies anything connecting Schlesinger’s, a Jewish delicatessen, or Mac Mart, a macaroni-and-cheese shop, to Israel. One of the same addresses was targeted in December 2023, when a march stopped outside Goldie and Governor Shapiro called it “a blatant act of antisemitism.”
NJAC asked for four steps: body-worn cameras active at each of the six storefronts for the duration of the ride; an Assistant District Attorney who handles hate-crimes matters reachable by phone that day; written confirmation that the flyer and post captures are in the investigative file, together with a preservation request to Meta under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f); and a file opened now under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8309(b) so that the Commonwealth can seek an injunction on Monday, November 9, if conduct crosses the line. The letter also sets out the specific Pennsylvania offenses that can serve as predicates for ethnic intimidation under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2710, and explains that charging only disorderly conduct or ordering riders to disperse forfeits that enhancement.
NJAC’s second letter, sent by Instagram direct message to Philly Bike On Your Left, Boycott CookNSolo, Philly Writers Against the War on Gaza, and Philly Solidarity Calendar, states that NJAC reasonably anticipates litigation and directs the organizers to preserve posts and their edit histories, messages, flyer source files, participant lists, route data, photographs and video, and account records. The post has already been edited at least twice, including to replace the word “zio” with “zionist.” Written confirmation is requested by November 12.
Both letters state plainly that NJAC is not asking anyone to stop the ride, move riders off public streets or sidewalks, or treat a boycott, signs, or chants as crimes. NJAC asks only that the line between protest and crime be drawn where Pennsylvania law draws it, and that if it is crossed, the record show what happened and why.
“The organizers were clear about who they are targeting — six Jewish business owners — and the ride falls on the eve of Kristallnacht,” said Lisa C. Brunner, Nagen Project Senior Litigation Counsel at NJAC. “Pennsylvania’s ethnic intimidation law only works if police charge the underlying crime. If a crime is committed at one of these businesses, we’re asking that it be properly documented and charged, not just met with an order to disperse.”
The National Jewish Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of the legal system to advocate for and protect Jewish civil rights using creative, innovative strategies.
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