OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that it’s suing an Oakland coffee house for alleged discrimination against Jewish customers.
The lawsuit claims the owner, Abdulrahim Harara, who is of Palestinian descent, discriminated against two customers and violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act.
“Our complaint alleges that the Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland refused to provide service, just selling a cup of coffee, who were visibly identified to the proprietors as Jewish,” said Harmeet Dhillon.
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Dhillon, a longtime San Francisco attorney, is the Assistant Attorney General for the civil rights division at the DOJ.
She says the customers in question were wearing baseball hats with symbols on them, such as a Star of David that would identify them as Jewish.
Court documents allege Harara had confrontations with both customers and ultimately kicked them out of his cafe.
“No American should feel unafraid or unwilling or worried that if they go into a particular restaurant that’s open to the public that they won’t be served because of their articles of faith or visibly identifying themselves as Jewish or any other religion,” Dhillon said.
But Harara’s attorney, Glenn Katon, says neither customer was actually denied service.
Katon says he believes the lawsuit is an attempt by the Trump administration to silence pro-Palestinian voices amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
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“This, in our view, is very much a political attack. And antisemitism, which is a very real problem in this country and in the world is being distorted and weaponized,” Katon said.
Katon tells ABC7 News Harara opposes antisemitism.
He also says while it’s difficult to say if one of the customers was trying to get a reaction out of Harara, the customer has an alleged history of engaging in public flights about the war in Gaza.
Katon says, despite the lawsuit, Harara will not be intimidated.
“It’s very obvious that they did no independent investigation and basically just cut and pasted from the other complaints,” Katon said.
In addition to the federal lawsuit, both customers have also filed individual suits against Harara.
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