On Sunday, Nov. 8, police estimate that hundreds of people turned out to support six targeted restaurants and businesses in Philadelphia's upscale Rittenhouse Square neighborhood while approximately 300 anti-Israel demonstrators participated in a "Boycott Ride" organized by a group called Philly Bike On Your Left.
The ride was intended to drive the so-called "Zionist establishments" — Mac Mart, K'Far Cafe, Huda, Goldie, Dizengoff and Schlesinger's Deli — out of business.
"No business for Zionists! These Zionist establishments must go! Not in our city!" the promotional material read.
The timing has drawn particular criticism because the demonstration occurred on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht — the violent 1938 Nazi-led pogroms that devastated Jewish communities in Germany and Austria.
On "Crystal Night," or the "Night of Broken Glass" (Nov. 9-10, 1938), synagogues were burned, Jewish-owned businesses and homes were vandalized and looted, approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and at least 91 Jews were killed, with many more dying from their injuries or mistreatment.
The attacks marked a major escalation in Nazi persecution, shifting from discriminatory laws and economic exclusion toward widespread, state-sponsored physical violence.
The systematic genocide of approximately 6 million European Jews was not yet underway on the same scale at the time, but Kristallnacht demonstrated the Nazi regime's willingness to use organized violence and paved the way for the mass deportations, imprisonment and extermination that followed.
Last weekend's boycott sparked widespread condemnation from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania political leaders, Jewish organizations and even some pro-Palestinian groups.
Hundreds of supporters turned out to patronize the restaurants, and community leaders pledged to continue supporting the targeted businesses amid plans for another protest, but Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer thinks the violent boycott "shows that we're in deep crisis."
"What you have is an increasingly open antisemitism, an increasingly open hatred of Jews such that these people did not hesitate to put on this protest on the anniversary of Kristallnacht because they really don't mind being identified with the Nazis," he tells AFN.
While boycott supporters defend the demonstration as a protest against the businesses' alleged support for Israel, arguing that their actions targeted political positions rather than Jewish people or religion, Spencer thinks the reaction would have been much different if this had happened 10 years ago.
"It would have been a massive international outcry, would have been investigations," he submits. "All the people involved would have been ruined professionally."
"This is not the same world," Spencer says. "We now live in a world where this kind of thing is normalized. The moral indignation that it should inspire is still not evident."
Philly Bike On Your Left explicitly denies intentionally scheduling the boycott ride to coincide with the eve of Kristallnacht's anniversary. In a statement to The Philadelphia Inquirer, a representative said, "I can assure you we had no idea when [Kristallnacht] was. That's not something we would ever do."
The group claims its rides are scheduled around participants' availability.
