By Gus Saltonstall
Effy’s Café, a popular American/Israeli breakfast eatery on the Upper West Side, was vandalized on Saturday, according to police and photos.
Red paint was splashed on the front of the storefront at 104 West 96th Street and Columbus Avenue, along with two messages spray painted on the sidewalk directly in front of the restaurant.
“Form line here to support genocide,” and “Free Gaza,” they read.
Effy’s has operated at its Upper West Side location for more than a decade, and also has an outpost on the Upper East Side.
Police confirmed to the Rag that the incident was under investigation and that the hate crime task force has been notified. There is no primary suspect at this time, NYPD added.
Effy’s Cafe did not immediately respond to a call from West Side Rag for comment.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Upper West Side Assembly candidate Micah Lasher visited Effy’s Cafe for brunch on Monday morning in a show of solidarity.
“We came to show solidarity and support,” Lasher wrote on social media. “To call this incident what it was — anti-Semitic hate. To demand that Albany expand the hate crimes law.”
Brunch with @MarkLevineNYC at Effy’s on W. 96th Street after it was targeted for being a Jewish establishment. We came to show solidarity and support. To call this incident what it was — anti-Semitic hate. To demand that Albany expand the hate crimes law. And to make clear that… pic.twitter.com/a0f2tFDh6Q
— Micah Lasher (@MicahLasher) March 18, 2024
Levine and Lasher were not the only local elected officials to get involved.
Councilmember Gale Brewer notified the 24th Precinct on Sunday about the graffiti at Effy’s Cafe, and also the spray paint found within Riverside Park near West 105th Street.
Rep. Jerry Nadler both got a meal at the restaurant and held a press conference Monday outside of the eatery along with other members of the NYC faith community to “speak out against the anti-Semitic act that took place.”
Today I joined members of the NYC faith community to speak out against the anti-Semitic act that took place at Effy’s Cafe. Thank you to @JCRCNY for bringing us together to show that hate has no place in our city or our country. pic.twitter.com/ct1oxx8qht
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) March 18, 2024
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I wonder what the spray painter(s) think about the genocide on 10/7? I’m sure they were outraged :roll eyes:
Oct. 7th was part of a ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
It was also an attack that Israel let happen.
Hardly a genocide.
The mass starvation is though. Also who keeps out anesthesia needed for operating on kids needing amputations? That’s just cruelty.
Where are the hostages? How many are still alive?
Please. What’s happening in Gaza is NOT genocide, and it’s disgustingly antisemitic to call it such. If anyone is responsible for Palestinian deaths in Gaza, it’s Hamas.
Read Bret Stephens’ January 16th article in The New York Times: “The Genocide Charge Against Israel is a Moral Obscenity.”
Disagreeing with a government is not antisemitic. Choose your words more carefully.
Indeed it was, the ongoing war where Hamas Since its founding, has declared that Israel has no right to exist, that there are no Israeli civilians and that every Israeli citizen is a soldier of the state, and thus a legitimate target.
I guess the difference is that was a onetime one-hour attack. Israel has been bombarding Gaza for six straight months killing thousands of civilians a day.
excuse me? A onetime attack? Thousands killed, raped (even women who were just murdered)? Israel has never targeted civilians. They have targeted Hamas, a terrorist organization, which positions their command in hospitals and which poses as great a future threat to yourself as to me. Endorsing terrorism is abhorrent. And no, it wasn’t “one hour.”
So, if Osama Bin Laden had been hiding an elemtary school filled with 1,000 children, the United States would have been totally justified in bombing the elementary school to get to Bin Laden?
What does this restaurant have anything to do with it?
Joe – care to comment on the 9 month old baby and his 4 year old brother who were kidnapped by Hamas?
Where are they? Last heard Hamas traded them to a Palestinian group like trading cards.
Where is their mother? Or Father?
The infant and toddler were separated from them and no one has them in months.
Guess they don’t count?
How dare you!
There are Israeli girls today being held and daily being ganged raped.
Israel has not been killing thousands of civilians a day. Hamas released numbers do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists so it is very unclear but the proper estimate would be that about 100 civilians are being killed in Gaza each day – not thousands.
The Israeli army has not raped any women. Hamas terroists raped women on October 7th. The Israeli army is aiming to destroy a terrorist group – not targeting civilians.
It wasn’t one hour for the hostages who are still being held in terrible conditions more than five months after the attack. It wasn’t one hour for the families of 1200 people who have lost their loved ones for ever. Perhaps it was one hour for the people who were burned, raped, tortured and mutilated while being videotaped for other people’s depraved entertainment but it probably felt like an eternity.
Furthermore, Hamas has been firing rockets at Israel every day for years.
Perfectly said, UWS Dad Thank you.
foolish, foolish foolish reply….a one hour attack, that is absolutely ignorant or hateful…which do you prefer?
Oct 7 was not merely a one hour attack. It was a savage massacre of 1200 innocent unarmed Israeli families in their homes on a joyous Jewish holiday and the horrific slaughter of young Israelis attending a music festival. 250 innocents from 9 month old baby to elderly were dragged into Gaza and held in tunnels at the mercy of sadistic Hamas terrorists. Oct 7 was a brutal declaration of war on Israel. No military on the planet has ever been as protective of civilians. The casualty numbers as analyzed by data experts has been deemed greatly exaggerated to demonize Israel.
400 of the 1200 killed Israelis were police or military.
History didn’t start on Oct. 7th 2023.
There is no evidence the Gaza casualty figures have been exaggerated.
There’s no evidence that they are accurate.
There is considerable evidence that the reported death numbers have been faked. A simple understanding of statistics and numbers probability also demonstrates this. I suggest reading the recent analysis by Dr. Abraham Wyner, Professor of Statistics and Data Science at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
And your point is that the Jews had ut coming?
You’ve confusion Israel with “the Jews”.
So has whomever vandalized this restaurant.
No, it’s an Israeli restaurant.
The owner is Israeli-American. It is not owned by the State of Israel.
Are you kidding me? A one hour attack? What a gross mischaracteristization of a horrific event. And yes, it’s war started by *not Israel* Why do you feel the need to devalue a vandalization? People are allowed to be upset about this. You don’t need to get into “whataboutism”
It might have been one hour of rape, torture, mutilation, kidnapping and killing but the hostages are still not home, so not really a “one hour” scenario. This doesn’t mean that the ongoing war, with all the horrors being experienced by the citizens of Gaza, is acceptable. It’s heartbreaking to see the devastation taking place. However, it’s clear that the ones who could care less about the Palestinian people is Hamas. They knew that their invasion of Israel would result in retaliation that would severely impact the Palestinian people but they could care less about them. They are monsters and will never stop unless they are stopped. And they don’t want to give up the hostages because that’s their only bargaining leverage so they are prolonging this nightmare for all concerned.
Civilians who knew that Hamas was a terrorist organization yet voted them into power and continued to support them. Gazans talk a lot about resistance. Maybe it should be directed at Hamas, not Israel. Bad decisions have consequences.
Hamas was voted into power in 2006. The majority of people in Gaza weren’t even born then. They have lived under this terrorist regime their entire lives.
I am in no way excusing Hamas’s actions. I feel the Gazan civilians are victims of both Hamas and Israel.
“Thousands a day” doesn’t even stack up with Hamas’ unverified tally. Disgusting.
Please find out more about Oct 7!
It was far more than one hour. And the hostages are still captive there. And the atrocities, the butchering, the sexual violence… Your comment is awful.
. When you are a terrorist organization and hide your ammunition and bombs in churches and homes, you’ve now converted those areas to a war zone. Not denouncing terrorist groups is in fact supporting them and using civilians as human shields is despicable. That is the difference between Gaza as you’d like to paint it vs the reality of it having been converted to a terrorist controlled war zone and the base only many terroristic strikes.
Spray painting an UWS cafe does a lot to address that.
This is absolutely disgusting. How about “free the hostages”
That vandalism is all over the UWS
I fail to see how this does anything to support the Palestinian cause.
Exactly. The business isn’t Netanyahu or even Israel. It’s someone’s livelihood.
The hostage poster activists were out in full force this weekend wheat pasting and vandalizing dozens of storefronts with illegal posters, which is perfectly fine, it’s NYC, graffiti doesn’t bother us, but I know commenters on here will scoff at the actions taken towards this café. Thousands are starving, dying, and dead in Gaza. Netanyahu is doubling down on the planned genocide of Palestinians, with relief unable to reach the millions in north as well as those who are about to be bombed in the upcoming invasion of Rafah. Even Biden is distancing himself from the Zionists.
The most disgusting thing about the propaganda against the posters is that the mantra of the hostages’ family is “bring them home at any cost.” This includes negotiating a permanent ceasefire for the release of the hostages. Yet the Hamas propaganda machine has gotten people to blindly believe that it is Israeli propaganda for war. Amazing what misinformation does to people.
Tell Hamas to leave their HOTELs in Quattro and come back to Gaza and return the Kidnapped CHILDREN….
The kidnapped girls…..
The kidnapped Elderly
I am not Jewish, but I stand with my Jewish friends against these terrorists!
Hamas uses their civilian population for human shields. If Hamas had released the hostages on day one there would have been no war. The hostages are suffering mightily at the hands of their barbaric captors. They are raped, beaten, kept in cages , starved, denied medical care denied access to hygiene. Hamas refuses to provide a list of names to Israel or to advise how many remain alive The war in Gaza is designed to eliminate Hamas ability to ever attack Israel again which they have sworn to do until not one Jew is left alive It ought to be obvious that . Israel’s war in Gaza is for its own protection.
“Scoff” at a Jewish business in New York City being vandalized over a war halfway around the world? Damn right, we all should. Go protest the war, go protest a government, but this crosses a line. It demonizes an entire people—hatred, pure and simple.
You are comparing putting up posters urging the release of hostages to VANDALIZING and TARGETING a specific business because of the country they originated from and their religion? Maybe if people are “scoffing” you can ask yourself why.
What does Effy’s have to do with Gaza, except you, know…
This is a busy street. I don’t understand how someone can commit this vandalism without witnesses.
Anyway, I like to believe that these so-called supporters of the Palestinians are alienating most people from their cause when they commit heinous acts like this.
The UWS isn’t that busy late at night. At least not on that part of Amsterdam. Maybe a few blocks down where the bars are.
They vandalized parts of Riverside Park as well.
Where in Riverside Park did the vandalism take place?
Sad – well this is a wonderful place to eat. I plan to go more often.
Me too
A nation experiences an attack with many casualties, and they are denounced for retaliation?
I must be too old for this world.
and the reports about quality of life on the UWS being as great as ever will continue… also regularly see police vehicles parked in Central Park at all hours
These are people who would be vandals anyway, just shopping around for a cause du jour to latch onto. Also, definitely ordering from Effy’s!
This is outrageous. Effy’s is a charming place with good food at reasonable prices. The perpetrators of this hateful act do nothing to help their cause. And Israel’s war was motivated by a slaughter of innocents.
I find this kind of behavior to be downright lazy. Non Jewish UWSider here who calls for a ceasefire in support of Gaza and is also a regular patron of Effy’s. To target an establishment simply because the owners are Israeli just makes you look stupid. I’m so sorry this happened to them and hope they can have it cleaned up and secure soon.
HERE ARE SOME POINTS TO CONSIDER:
1. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military forces from Gaza and dismantled its settlements. The Gazians then elected Hamas for their governing body.
2. There has been no reported vandalism on Moslem establishments either before or after the October 7th massacre.
THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!
Um – I’m not in favor of vandalizing Effy’s at all – but I have to point out there has been also PLENTY of Islamophobia and targeting, harassment, spitting, throwing vile things, etc of peaceful pro -Palestinian protesters, individuals, students, etc etc. Didn’t the targeted shooting of those three Palestinian college students – two wearing checked scarves, talking a mix of Arabic and English – in Burlington, Vermont register with you? One of those boys is paraplegic as a result. They were peacefully walking down a street near a grandparents home. There is so much high feeling on both sides of this subject – politically, historically it is a tragic knot for policymakers- but even for anyone with feelings about the awful events – it behooves us all to try and do things that make a difference for those suffering, for the future of all of our children and the world, not shout and fight and deface our neighborhoods.
There is so much ignorance about history from way back and more currently, it leaves me anxious about what is to come from fellow citizens,, especially in the November 2024 election. There are many elected officials who are ignorant, as well as mean-spirited and less than ethical. It is those who continue to vote for them that puts us at extreme risk.
SO sad on many fronts!
If you’d like to help, please consider donating to Red Crescent, the local equivalent of the Red Cross. They do fantastic work navigating the many international sanctions and embargoes to try to get aid to both sides. WSR, would love it if you considered updating the article with this link
https://www.ifrc.org/emergency/middle-east-complex-emergency-crisis
The Red Crescent has neither visited the hostages nor have they provided a
list of hostages being held.
Families don’t know if their loved ones are dead or alive.
The Red Crescent is derelict in its responsibility. Seems to me we saw this movie approximately 80 plus years ago, only then it was called Theresenstadt.
Just to note that spray paint vandalism on that block is a constant problem. Could be same perpetrators. It was an extensive job. Something must have been caught on camera
What always baffles me is that pro Palestinian activists routinely mention and show support for the people of Palestine as well as the Israeli victims of October 7th.
What I never see however, are pro Israeli activists displaying the same dignity towards the Palestinian victims of Israeli bombing and starvation; when the death toll is 10x higher in Palestine than it is in Israel. This problem goes back way before October 7th and is the root of the problem in the conflict happening on the West Bank. The message being displayed over and over again is Israeli lives matter more than Palestinian lives. I’ve even heard many Israeli nationalists outwardly claim Palestinian lives don’t matter at all.
The thousands dying in Palestine every week is the greatest shame of our generation.
It’s true that Israeli extremists are abhorrent (and criminal) for illegally seizing land and brutalizing Palestinian people, who they regard as less than human. But it’s an extraordinary stretch to say that pro Palestinian activists routinely mention and show support for the Israeli victims of October 7th.
It’s as if you’ve been living in a bubble and/or just awoke recently, with little knowledge of the history of the region–let alone recognition that Hamas’ very mission is to eradicate the state of Israel.
For the vast majority of the last 100 years, Jews in the region have lived in terror. First, immediately upon Israel’s legal founding by the United Nations in 1947-8, Israel was attacked by the armies of five Arab nations seeking to destroy it. Then, while living in a perpetual state of war, innocent Israelis both at home and abroad (as well as other Jews around the world) were subjected to terrorist attacks by Palestinians and other Arab nationals for more than five decades.
Yes, since coming to power for the second time in 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu has proved to be a racist demagogue with no real interest in a peaceful solution. And while living in a state of war and being subjected to terrorist attacks by Palestinians for more than five decades will warp almost anybody, for the better part of those 60 years before Netanyahu came to power the second time most Israeli politicians and most of the Israeli people longed for peaceful coexistence with the Palestinian people in something reasonably approaching the U.N.’s 1967 borders.
There will always be debate and controversy regarding historical events, but it’s very well documented that if the Palestinian people and their leaders had once chosen peace over war and terror in a six-decade period they would have found a legitimate partner for peace in Israel and their suffering would have ended.
With that in mind, (as I said above) it’s an extraordinary stretch to say that pro Palestinian activists routinely mention and show support for the Israeli victims of October 7th. Far too many pro Palestinian activists instead still call for the dismantling of Israel.
Why was it assumed that they support Israel’s genocide? To me that’s the most clearly antisemitic thing here.
Just because you’re Jewish doesn’t mean you support Israel and it’s genocidal acts. All of my Jewish friends are disgusted with Israel right now. Was there anything else indicating any sentiment to the contrary?
The ongoing failure to distinguish anti-Zionist expansionism from anti-Semitism does no one any justice or any good. As UN Sec’y Gen’l Gutierrez said, although not condonable, the attack of Oct 7 ‘did not happen in a vacuum;’ it was a response to ongoing Israeli politics and policies towards Palestinians. This is not about hostility towards Jews, it is about hostility towards an oppressor, with all the sad irony that should represent to any of us thinking Jews.
There are Muslims on the UWS that have nothing to do with the Palestinian protests and condemn Hamas who have been profiled because they were Muslim and the community leadership on the UWS will not lift a finger for them and basically are happy to send a message that Muslims aren’t welcome on the UWS. It’s like the UWS has compassion for drug addicted homeless people, for convicted sex offenders housed in UWS homeless shelters, but not Muslims who are good hardworking people who support Israel’s right to exist.