Pro-Palestinian protesters intimidated cashiers at Morton Williams: owner
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The Jewish owner of the New York City-area supermarket chain Morton Williams said his cashiers were intimated by pro-Palestinian protesters who defaced their Israeli product section following a call to protest their store near Columbia University.
Morton Williams co-owner Avi Kaner told The Post it was painful to see one of the stores his family has operated for decades become the target of hate from two women who entered the supermarket on Broadway in Morningside Heights on Wednesday.
“You have a right to your opinion. You don’t have a right to deface private property,” Kaner said. “These actions are blatantly antisemitic. They have to be called out.”
Kaner, a Columbia University alumnus, said the women put on pandemic face masks once they entered the store and headed to the Israeli products section to slap on a sticker that reads, “Every time the media lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies.”
Kaner said that when his employees told the two women to stop and leave, they began berating the workers and yelling about the Israel-Hamas war.
The store has contacted Columbia security and the NYPD about the incident.
The face-off inside the supermarket came as Morton Williams, which has 14 stores across Manhattan, was named as a boycott target by Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace groups, which were recently suspended over anti-Israel rallies.
The groups called for shoppers to avoid Morton Williams because the company boasts that it “proudly imports from Israel.”
The student groups also condemned the supermarket chain’s decision to cut down on Ben & Jerry’s products after the company cut ties with Israel.
The students went on to blast one of Kaner’s associates for stating that “Israel is the one true democracy in the Middle East trying to survive against hostile neighbors seeking its destruction.”
Since the protests began over the weekend, Kaner said the Columbia store “has been hurt significantly.”
“Since Saturday we’ve seen business slowing down, and it’s hurting our bottom line,” Kaner said.
The Morton Williams co-owner said he was disappointed to see students from his alma mater promote divisiveness and try to turn the community against his family’s business.
Kaner noted that the Columbia store remained open 24/7 even during the pandemic to help meet the needs of the struggling community and students, so to see his store impacted by the boycott hurts.
“It just doesn’t make sense for students at an elite, Ivy League school to support terrorists and spread a hateful message in our community,” Kaner said.
“They’re trying to silence us through bullying and intimidation, but we will not cave in to bullies,” he added.
Along with Morton Williams, the student groups also called on shoppers to avoid Starbucks and the Sweetgreen restaurant chain, accusing them of targeting pro-Palestinian protesters.
Representatives for Starbucks and Sweetgreen did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Aside from hurting his business, Kaner feared that the boycott could spread further incidents of antisemitism in the Big Apple.
On Tuesday, a person at Columbia University received an anonymous letter from Texas that read, “Heil Hitler. The f–king Jews start World War III. Columbia Jew College, the land of the thousand Jews,” police sources told The Post.
The NYPD also confirmed an incident at the CUNY City College on Nov. 3 where antisemitic graffiti was discovered on the walls of the school’s library.
The NYPD reported at least 69 anti-Jewish incidents in October, more than three times the figure from the previous year.
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