The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has launched an investigation into a Brooklyn coffee shop accused of taunting and refusing service to a member of Congress due to his pro-Israel stance, officials announced Monday.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, made the announcement on X, noting that the division is aware of “denial of service taunts to @danielsgoldman by Poetica Coffee in Brooklyn.”
Poetica Coffee lists seven locations on its website, plus a coffee truck. The company’s Instagram account had been deactivated at the time of publication of this article. According to its website, Parviz Mukhamadkulov, the cafe’s owner, opened the first location in 2020.
Mukhamadkulov did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Federal law prohibits public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on their race, religion, or national origin,” Dhillon wrote.
“These actions are not only reprehensible, they’re potentially illegal. The Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation, and will bring an enforcement action if warranted.”
The post notes the congressman as Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat.
Dhillon’s statement highlights the division’s stance that such conduct by businesses open to the public could run afoul of longstanding federal protections.
“If you have been denied service at a public accommodation on the basis of a protected characteristic, we at @TheJusticeDept want to know!” the post states.
The Civil Rights Division maintains federal statutes that prohibit discrimination in places of public accommodation, including restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments. The division has the authority to investigate complaints and pursue enforcement actions when evidence suggests a violation.
There has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the United States since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s military response in Gaza, according to an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report published last year.
Jewish individuals and supporters of Israel have faced harassment, exclusion, and hostility in public spaces, on campuses, and in everyday commercial settings, the ADL has said.
“Activity and rhetoric documented at these rallies included: justification or glorification of anti-Semitic violence, promotion of classic anti-Semitic tropes including blood libel, conspiracy theories, and signage equating Judaism or Zionism with Nazism, celebration of the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack in Israel, and unapologetic support for terrorism, designated terrorist organizations and their leaders,” the ADL said in a statement about the report.
