A Queens deli is stubbornly refusing to change its controversial name \u2013 even after over a year\u2019s worth of complaints from Jewish New Yorkers who said it makes them feel unsafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Gaza Deli and Grill on 48th Street in Woodside features painted slogans including \u201cSave Gaza\u201d and \u201cFree Al Aqsa\u201d \u2013 a phrase used as a call for Israel\u2019s removal from Jerusalem \u2013 as well as images of a keffiyeh-clad woman and watermelon<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing these messages on a neighborhood deli feels like a punch to the gut. It\u2019s not just a mural \u2013 it\u2019s a message. And to someone like me, it\u2019s a reminder that even here, in the place I came to for peace, I\u2019m still not safe,\u201d Natalie Sanandaji told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jewish New Yorkers say that the Gaza Deli and Grill on 48th Street in Woodside make them feel unsafe. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n
Sanandaji, 30 \u2014 who was at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis \u2014 spotted the deli while heading to Brooklyn earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came back to New York hoping for safety and stability \u2014 instead, I feel alienated in a city I once called home,\u201d said Sanandaji. \u201cI\u2019m surrounded by people who glorify and call Oct. 7 a \u2018resistance,\u2019 like it\u2019s a good thing\u2026people who would celebrate the fact that I almost died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanandaji \u2014 who now works as a public affairs officer for the Combat Antisemitism Movement \u2014 likened the bodega\u2019s name to calling it \u201c9\/11 Deli\u201d or \u201cHolocaust Deli.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bodega features painted slogans including \u201cSave Gaza\u201d and \u201cFree Al Aqsa\u201d \u2013 a phrase used as a call for Israel\u2019s removal from Jerusalem. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same connotation,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deli\u2019s owner dismissed the notion that Jews could take offense to his store\u2019s branding \u2013 telling The Post, \u201cthey like to make excuses to make it sound like they\u2019re always the victim.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t turn down any customers and, believe it or not, we have a lot of Jewish customers who still to this day come into the business. Everyone is welcome, we don\u2019t turn anyone away,\u201d Bilal Alghazali said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason for fear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deli\u2019s branding is a reminder that \u201cI\u2019m still not safe,\u201d said Oct. 7 survivor Natalie Sanandaji, who called the messaging \u201ca punch to the gut.\u201d AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Alghazali, 26, said he named the bodega to honor his mother\u2019s Palestinian roots and clamed he\u2019s gotten multiple death threats since the deli opened in February 2024. <\/p>\n
But he said he doesn\u2019t regret the name \u2014 and even plans to name his future daughter \u201cGaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michelle Ahdoot, the director of End Jew Hatred, said the signage features \u201cthe same kind of artwork that is used by Hamas to glorify violence against Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a complete lack of sensitivity to Jewish New Yorkers who have experienced such a massive increase in Jew-hatred and now are seeing this deli being used to spread distorted politicized messages,\u201d Ahdoot told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deli\u2019s owner, Bilal Alghazali, said he named the bodega to honor his mother\u2019s Palestinian roots. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n
Raif Rashed, the Israeli owner of the Flatiron restaurant Taboonia, called the deli\u2019s messaging \u201ccrazy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are too many Hamas supporters here in New York,\u201d Rashed said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queens deli is stubbornly refusing to change its controversial name \u2013 even after over a year\u2019s worth…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,12648,24587,4526,373,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4413,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-152499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-antisemitism","10":"tag-bodega","11":"tag-gaza-strip","12":"tag-israel-hamas-war","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-queens","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115042776736206384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}