Posted on 02/13/2026 11:57:06 AM PST by DFG
The owner of an Ethiopian-Israeli restaurant in Harlem says she has been forced to close her establishment for regular dining due to alleged harassment and antisemitism.
Beejhy Barhany, owner of the Tsion Cafe, told the New York Post that hate directed at her restaurant intensified after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which prompted the country’s war with Hamas. Barhany also told the outlet that the alleged hate and harassment have left her “demoralized.”
“I answered the phone once at the restaurant and the caller said, ‘You dirty Jew. We should erase you from the map,'” Barhany said.
“I am demoralized and heartbroken that there are so many bigots out there. It’s mind blowing. We can’t handle the burden anymore,” she continued.
Barhany said she has been forced to close her restaurant for regular dining and now offers only group bookings made in advance, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Jewish Week. She has reimagined her business as a place for experiences that are culturally immersive.
Barhany told Jewish Week she experienced even more animosity when she removed meat from her menu to go fully vegan and kosher in February 2024.
“I was proud to be Jewish. I wanted to illuminate that,” she said. “But from the moment we pivoted to be kosher, it became worse and worse.”
Barhany also recalled alleged comments made by a group of Gen-Z individuals passing through the city while one of her servers was standing outside.
“Don’t ever come to this place. It’s owned by Israelis. By Zionists,” they allegedly said.
Barhany was born in Ethiopia and spent three years in a refugee camp in Sudan before moving to Southern Israel, according to Jewish Week. She moved to the Kibbutz Alumim near the Gaza Strip when she was a teen, served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), traveled the world, and then settled in New York City in her early twenties. She opened the Tsion Cafe in 2014.
In addition, she is the “founder of the Beta Israel of North America Cultural Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering and celebrating the rich legacy of Ethiopian Jews,” according to her biography on the restaurant’s website.
Barhany shared a statement to the restaurant’s Instagram account on Feb. 12 thanking the community for its support and inviting respectful dialogue from potential opponents.
“We’re grateful for the love and support we receive–thank you. To those who feel distant from us or disagree, especially if we’ve never met: we invite you to keep an open heart, to learn–and if you’re willing–to engage in respectful conversation. You don’t have to agree with us to listen or be heard,” the statement read in part.
Upon learning that Barhany had to close her restaurant for regular dining due to harassment, the Jewish Community Relations Council filed formal complaints with Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s offices, asking them to open civil rights probes, according to the New York Post.
The Daily Caller contacted James and Mamdani’s offices, neither of whom immediately commented.
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At that moment, she became convinced this wasn't Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
Must be Klan members from White Plains, or maybe Massapequa.
“Upon learning that Barhany had to close her restaurant for regular dining due to harassment, the Jewish Community Relations Council filed formal complaints with Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s offices, asking them to open civil rights probes, according to the New York Post.”
James and Mamdani are more likely to arrest her for being a Jew than they are to open up civil rights probes. Heck, the calls probably came from the mayor’s office.
Her business is not the only one to close or leave Mamdani’s paradise. The big question is who in their right mind will invest pricate capital in that high tax, regulation happy socialist hell. Without investment a place withers and decays.
“Must be Klan members from White Plains, or maybe Massapequa.”
That was the biggest stupidity of that “stop antisemitism with blue squares” ad during the Superbowl.
Sorry, it’s not nice little suburban white kids that’s the problem.
I’ve had my share of cat calls and rude comments randomly directed at me for being Jewish. Excepting the occasional Fuentes Fagboy on FR (of unknown race, gender, and religion), it’s overwhelmingly muslims, blacks, and AWFULs who spew garbage.
The warmth of Collectivism.
Never forget: Fascism was explicitly a Collectivist philosophy, according to Mussolini.
She's triggering muzzards by existing and being Jewish - which is a form of hate speech to commies and goat humpers.
“ She’s triggering muzzards by existing and being Jewish - which is a form of hate speech to commies and goat humpers.”
That’s pretty much the standard in Canada and London now.
Jews have been arrested for breaching the peace by walking along minding their own business, which is “undue provocation” of Muslims.
These harassers are lowlife cowards.
Not a thing will be done to help her, just ask Alisha James.
I’d sit in a high window on “over watch” for her.
Another sad story.
Must have been like this in the 1850s-1860s.
Just don’t do anything stupid.
Understand?
She’s an amazing woman. Too bad the execrable “Love Lives Here” crowd is so hate filled.
* Born in Ethiopia
* Three years in a refugee camp in Sudan
* Moved to Southern Israel. Lived in Kibbutz Alumim near the Gaza Strip when she was a teen
* Served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
* Traveled the world
* Settled in NYC in her early twenties
* Opened the Tsion Cafe in 2014.
* Founded Beta Israel of North America Cultural Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering and celebrating the rich legacy of Ethiopian Jews
Ms. Barhany is the sort of person we are proud to have become American. I hope this doesn’t sour her on our country. There are many areas in the country that would welcome this hard-working entrepreneur / restauranteur.
The atmosphere in this country will soon change "doing something stupid" into "doing what it takes".
NEVER AGAIN, and I'm not Jewish. I'm ust interested in the survival of our civilization, and that doesn't seem possible these days.
The surest way to destroy our civilization is to first destroy America by inciting civil war through encouraging vigilantism.
Many hope to destroy this the greatest of all nations in history. But they don’t understand their own motives, which is a mark of low IQ.
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