TORONTO (July 2, 2020) – Hasbara Fellowships Canada is calling on members of our community to boycott a downtown Toronto restaurant after its owner continued to make hateful and offensive remarks about Israel and Zionism on Thursday.

For weeks, Bloordale restaurant Foodbenders and its owner Kimberly Hawkins have intensified their campaign against the Jewish State, writing politically-charged messages on the sidewalk chalkboard outside such as “Defund Israel.” The Foodbenders Instagram page has also been rife with egregious anti-Israel rhetoric, with several posts that many would argue are outright antisemitic, including Zionist are “Nazis,” “racists,” “greedy and entitled” and that they are “not welcome” at Foodbenders.

One Foodbenders post about a pro-Israel Instagram page read, “These people control your media and elected officials.” The notion that Jewish people run the media is a clear and age-old antisemitic trope.

Screenshots from the Foodbenders Instagram page

Comparing Israel to the Nazis is also a modern-day form of blood libel and considered antisemitic according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which was adopted by Canada in 2016.

Hawkins was also actively promoting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned on several occasions as leading to the harassment of Jewish students on campus. Given especially that many students frequent the area, Hasbara Fellowships Canada quickly condemned Hawkins’ support of BDS as well as her hateful comments.

“At this time in history where communities are working together against racism and discrimination, it is revolting that a Toronto business would promote divisiveness and hate rather than inclusivity,” said Daniel Koren, Hasbara Canada’s Executive Director. “It is clear, given that she continues to publicly target those she offended rather than apologize, that Hawkins feels no remorse for assaulting our community in this way.”

He continued: “If Hawkins were to consult recent surveys of Canadian Jewry, she’d find that the vast majority of us identify as Zionist and are therefore ‘not welcome’ at her store. It wouldn’t be the first time in history that has happened, though I don’t know if she realizes that or even understands the irony in her calling us Nazis.”

Other Torontonians also condemned Hawkins on Thursday including CP24 journalist Jamie Gutfreund and Breakfast Television host Shai Deluca. Foodbenders has also been in the media recently over its “Fuck the Police” signs and other signs against police.