Published by the San Francisco Standard on 03/03/2025 An Oakland man is suing a Palestinian-owned coffee shop, alleging he was thrown out for wearing a baseball cap featuring a Jewish star, in a confrontation that went viral in October. The lawsuit, filed by Jonathan Hirsch in Alameda County, accuses Oakland’s Jerusalem Coffee House of religious discrimination and violating his civil rights. “The anti-Semitism that Mr. Hirsch and his son experienced is utterly shocking, as was the Defendants’ ignorance of basic morality and the law,” one of Hirsch’s attorneys at the Brandeis Center said in a statement. “We look forward to educating the Defendants — and anyone that shares their distorted views — in a court of law.” In the suit, Hirsch alleges that during an Oct. 26 visit to the cafe, he ordered a latte, then sat down to play chess with his 5-year-old son. Within minutes, Hirsch claims, Abdulrahim Harara, operator of the coffee house, demanded to know whether he was a “Zionist” and asked him to leave. Hirsch was wearing a blue baseball cap with a white Star of David. “This is a violent hat,” Harara is heard telling Hirsch in video footage. “Are you a Zionist? Leave.” The lawsuit claims Harara proceeded to yell “Fuck Israel, fuck Zionists” and told Hirsch’s son that “your dad’s a bitch.” The lawsuit claims Hirsch had never before visited the Jerusalem Coffee House and was not seeking a confrontation. Hirsch seeks unspecified “compensatory damages.” Harara declined to comment on the lawsuit. Hirsch is also suing Telegraph LLC, which owns the building, and East Bay Community Space, which leases the space to the coffee house. Hirsch claims an East Bay Community Space employee told him to leave the cafe, and both entities “should have known about … Harara’s bias.” The coffee house previously took flak for unveiling a menu that appeared to celebrate Hamas on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack. The menu had drinks with names like “Sweet Sinwar.” Harara has disputed that the drink was meant to commemorate Yahya Sinwar, the late leader of the terror group. In November, after Hirsch’s confrontation went viral, the Jewish News of Northern California reported that another Jewish man said he was accosted by Harara while standing outside the cafe. Last week, the Anti-Defamation League filed a similar civil rights suit on behalf of that man, Michael Radice. The Standard previously reported that Hirsch has a history of engaging in loud public fights about the war in Gaza, local politics, and in one case, a road rage incident. “I have to get better at understanding, like, the difference between how to hold my ground and how to stand my ground,” Hirsch said at the time. “I think the car was a situation that was something I shouldn’t have done.”