There is nothing wrong with that, of course. Good food is good food and the list has many different ethnic restaurants. But restaurants are more than food - they include presentation, atmosphere.
And Ayat is filled with anti-Israel propaganda.
On the wall of its Staten Island branch there is a huge mural with a crying Palestinian woman together with evil looking Israeli soldiers and tanks and innocent looking Palestinians behind bars, next to a depiction of a map that erases Israel.
Its flagship Brooklyn location has a similar mural, apparently showing a sleeping child being woken up by the evil Jews and Palestinians being held at gunpoint.
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The menu prominently says "Down with the occupation."
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Another mural on the wall that says that the entire point of the restaurant is political:
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Now, could you imagine a restaurant that features artwork about abortion, or that is anti-immigration? Certainly any reviewer would prominently mention that, no matter how good the food is, because the dining experience for people who disagree with the politics would be ruined, no matter how good the food is.
Beyond that, is it not possible to have a Palestinian restaurant, or Palestinian art exhibit, or Palestinian concert, that celebrates Palestinian culture without feeling the necessity to attack Israeli Jews - Jews whose emotional and historic ties to the land dwarf those of Arabs?
They may exist, but they are rare indeed.
(h/t Jerry)
