Black-clad vandals ripped down an Israeli flag from a Jewish-owned restaurant in Upper Southampton, then dragged it through the parking lot where they stomped and spit on it before fleeing.
"It was terrifying," said Lawrence Kalikhman, an owner of Cafe Ole In the Valley, in the 1000 block of County Line Road. "Two girls (working the counter) ran to the basement and called me."
No employees or customers were hurt in the Wednesday Nov. 1 incident.
A surveillance video of the theft shows two men, faces covered, entering the cafe shortly after 5 p.m. and walk toward the back of the cafe. They then reappear on screen carrying the Israeli flag, torn from a back wall.
Two others appeared to be involved; one stood by in the cafe and while another watched from the sidewalk.
One of the men reportedly yelled "Free Palestine" as the men left the cafe.
Once outside, the men desecrated the blue and white flag, emblazoned with the Star of David, people in neighboring businesses in the shopping center witnessed and then came to Cafe Ole to find out what had happened.
"They saw them stomping and spitting on (the flag)," Kalikhman said.
Upper Southampton police Detective Jim Schirmer is investigating.
Social media chatter on Friday said there were leads in the case, and that the vandals may be high school students.
Schirmer declined additional comment because it’s an active investigation, he said, and referred a call about the case to a department administrator. Friday morning, a police SUV cruised the parking lot, slowing and keeping a close eye on the café.
Kalikhman and café co-owner Moshe Buchnik opened the dining spot five years ago.
“We’ve never had any racist or anti-Semitic incidents here. Until now, this has been a very peaceful community,” Kalikhman said.
The same day as the flag swiping, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in the U.S. Senate that antisemitic attacks have reached “historic levels” in the U.S. Although Jews make up just 2.4 percent of the American population, about 60 percent of all religious hate crimes are aimed at them, he said.
Increased attacks on American Jews coincides with the war between Israel and neighboring Gaza, which is majority Muslim. The war commenced Oct. 7 after a raid by Hamas, a Sunni Islamist military and political organization in Gaza, staged a surprise attack. More than 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed in a kibbutz and at an outdoor music festival. Carol SimanTov, of Levittown, Bristol Township, was among the victims at the kibbutz.
Because Cafe Ole's flag of Isreal hung on a rear wall of the café, Kalikhman speculated that one or both men had been in the shop before.
“How else would they know?” he said, as he sat in the dining room Friday morning.
Customers and residents have rallied to support the café, and the place was crowded on Friday.
“We’ve got new faces here,” Kalikhman said.
A customer gave the café a new flag, which now hangs where the old one had been.
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