The anti-AIPAC sleight of hand
A coffee shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., recently turned a cup of coffee into a moral X-ray. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) entered Poetica Coffee with his daughter, after which the shop said it would have refused…
Assessment
A Brooklyn coffee shop's stated willingness to refuse service to Representative Dan Goldman exposes how anti-Israel sentiment can translate into targeted personal exclusion in everyday settings. The incident moves quickly from a policy disagreement to a suspicion of financial corruption, a leap that reveals the reflexive distrust directed at pro-Israel advocates. The trivial setting belies a serious question: whether opposing a politician's views on Israel now justifies public shaming and de facto boycotts in spaces that claim no political affiliation.