By Milt Harris ——Bio and Archives--November 9, 2023
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It’s nice to have a happy story to report on, even though it didn’t start out that way. Café Aronne is a Jewish owned café that has been open for around ten months on the East side of New York. After the attack on October 7th, the owner Aaron Dahan, began displaying the Israeli flag, photos of kidnapped Jews and even put out a jar for donations to raise money for the Israeli Red Cross.
However, his immature staff consisting of five baristas, walked off the job in support of Hamas. According to Dahan, he attempted to have an adult conversation with them, to no avail.
Dahn told the New York Post, “Our staff was young. They think they know everything, liberal, college educated. They think we’re supporting genocide, we’re supporting colonialism. They know the keywords, but they don’t really know what they mean.”
On Tuesday, two more baristas walked off the job when Dahan attempted to discuss with them the Free Palestine pins that they were wearing to work. They also walked off the job becoming the latest staffers to quit.
Dahan, who is only 25 years old himself, thought that he may have to close his café, but as word spread about what happened he began receiving unprecedented assistance from his suppliers and customers, many of whom were not Jewish.
Shir Dekel had just arrived in New York, but she was working the coffee machine like a pro. Dahan explained her situation.
"She said, 'I just landed in New York this morning. My house was destroyed in Israel two days ago by a rocket. "I said, 'Do you know how to make coffee?' She said, 'I've been a barista for five years.' I said you're hired."
The Post talked with Bina Dabbah, a 57-year-old who said she came into the store to offer to “wash the dishes, to mop the floors.”
“All this antisemitism is very frightening. I know the baristas here and it’s just very upsetting that all these young people are, … I don’t know what they are, ignorant? Hateful? Brainwashed? It’s very scary this is what’s happening in this country, but I hope somebody knows how to fix it because it’s really scary.”
Dahan said around 1,700 customers came into the cafe on Tuesday, compared to 300 the café would normally serve. “Lots of people put in orders and didn’t take anything or they bought gift cards,” The overwhelming support helped the cafe haul in $25,000 in a single day.
“They’re just saying, We’re in New York. We know terror. We know there is evil in the world, and the only way to combat that evil is through love and unity. I’ve heard that a dozen times today, and every time I do it makes my hair stand every time.”
Yesterday morning there were around fifty people lined up around the block waiting to get into the café. While they waited, a local woman distributed boxes of granolachik, a kosher granola for the patrons to munch on while they waited.
Evil is a horrible thing and when it’s compounded by ignorance it morphs, and spreads like a virus. The antidote, of course, is a combination of love and understanding. It’s nice to see an example of those traits triumphing over hatred.
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Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.