Thread by @ADLPhiladelphia

THREAD:

@JFedinPhilly, @phillyjcrc and @ADL are deeply disturbed that the #Israeli cuisine food truck Moshava was removed from the A Taste of Home event organized by Eat Up the Borders at Sunflower Philly today.

1/5

We have spoken with the event organizers and expressed that we unequivocally disagree with their decision. We do understand that threats to the organizers were made, and we understand the fear and confusion that comes when your community faces that intimidation.

2/5

The vile #antisemitic rhetoric and threats of violence lobbied at the organizers was utterly despicable.
This event was planned to celebrate diversity, and to see individuals on social media respond with open prejudice and anti-Jewish hate was shameful and deeply upsetting.

3/5

However, the decision to bow to this antisemitic intimidation by disinviting Moshava was wrong.
In the next few days, we will be meeting with the organizers to discuss what happened, provide education on antisemitism and share communal security resources.

4/5

We look forward to future events where the Moshava food truck, and other Jewish and Israeli ethnic foods, are welcomed and enjoyed by all.

5/5

UPDATE (Thread):

@JFedinPhilly, @phillyjcrc, @ADL, @AJCGlobal, @JewsinALLHues, and the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis are continuing to respond to the recent incident in which the Israeli food truck Moshava was barred from participating in the “A Taste of Home” event...
1/12

...organized by Eat Up the Borders and Sunflower Philly. In response to the public outcry from this decision, the event organizers cancelled the event yesterday.
2/12

In our ongoing conversations with Eat Up the Borders, which allegedly received threats about the Israeli food truck’s participation, we communicated that the organizers should have reported the threats to law enforcement and stood up for Moshava’s participation.
3/12

By not doing so, they failed to honor the event’s goal of “celebrating diversity through food, art, entertainment, community.” We urged them to issue a sincere public apology, reject anti-Israel rhetoric & highlight Israeli food in upcoming events as a way to make amends.
4/12

We also agreed to set up a meeting with all our organizations to discuss the incident, provide education on antisemitism and share communal security resources.
5/12

However, an executive at Sunflower Philly claimed late Sunday that the truck was disinvited because no Palestinian food truck was in attendance due to scheduling issues & “that an agreement had been made in the past that one truck would not be present without the other.”
6/12

In our conversation with Eat Up the Borders organizers, they disputed this characterization and said that this newly-formed “agreement” consisted of ensuring that both Israeli and Palestinian or Middle Eastern food trucks were invited to the same events...
7/12

...not that they both had to attendance. Moshava was never informed of any such position.
8/12

The “agreement” Sunflower Philly has described is discriminatory and constitutes a clear double standard, as it does not appear to apply to Tibetan & Chinese, Turkish & Kurdish, Russian & Ukrainian or any other cuisines hailing from countries engaged in conflict.
9/12

We call on Sunflower Philly to provide equal opportunity to all vendors, regardless of country of origin, religious or ethnic background, in all of their events. To that end, we call on Sunflower Philly to issue a public apology to Moshava and the community at large.
10/12

We also call on the entire team at Sunflower Philly and Eat Up the Borders to engage in ongoing education and outreach so they can truly honor their mission to “create a positive and inclusive community space in Philadelphia.”
11/12

We will continue to advocate for fair treatment in this matter, and will not stop until a just and satisfactory resolution is reached.
12/12