Couple kicked out of progressive Berlin coffeehouse because a T-shirt said "Falafel" in Arabic, English - and Hebrew ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, October 20, 2025

Couple kicked out of progressive Berlin coffeehouse because a T-shirt said "Falafel" in Arabic, English - and Hebrew

They see themselves as progressive, as left-wing. But in Berlin-Neukölln, that doesn't mean much anymore when it comes to Jews, the Middle East conflict, Israel, and Gaza. Even in left-wing projects like the so-called collective café "K-Fetisch," a place that aims to be a "safe space" for queer people and is committed to fighting racism, sexism, and discrimination.

This is what happened to Raffaela and Abby, whose real names are not being used here to protect them. Both are in their early to mid-30s. She works in the social sector, focusing on interreligious conflicts, and he is an artist—and a Jew. An Israeli who has been living off his art in Germany for several years.

Late Friday afternoon, at 5:30 p.m., they were at K-Fetisch. The name of the bar is pronounced "coffee table." It describes itself as follows: "We currently define ourselves as a left-wing trans* and non-binary collective that advocates for people with diverse life experiences and identities."

Raffaela's identity apparently wasn't among them. "I was wearing a T-shirt with the word falafel written on it in English, Arabic, and Hebrew," she says. "When I went to order something at the counter, the waitress looked at my T-shirt and then asked me if it was Hebrew."

Raffaela replied, as she later told Tagesspiegel, that the text on her T-shirt was in Hebrew, with the word falafel written next to it in Arabic. "After that, she refused to serve me," Raffaela says. "I don't serve you," the counter employee said. And that she didn't serve Zionists.

"She began to loudly insult me, saying I supported the genocide in Gaza, that Hebrew was the language of the oppressor, and that they wouldn't tolerate people like me in their café," Raffaela recounts two days later. "She ordered me to leave the café immediately, whereupon my companion and I left."

But that wasn't enough. "When we were standing in front of the café, she took a photo of us from inside," Raffela says. They then went back inside and asked the waitress to delete the photo. "But she demanded my name to officially ban me from the premises." Raffaela didn't give her name,

The overall situation was deeply hostile and intimidating.

The employee then aggressively ordered her to leave the café. Raffaela says: "We said it was anti-Semitic, because she rejects the Hebrew language per se. And that it was like the 1930s, that she didn't know us and had no right to judge us."

But the employee continued to insult them and told them they should be ashamed of themselves. Other employees tried to calm the situation but were shocked themselves. It had become loud, and the café was busy. "One guest asked us to finally calm down," says Raffaela.

"The overall situation was deeply hostile and intimidating," the victim continues. And all because of the Hebrew lettering on her T-shirt. "This clearly has an anti-Semitic background."

In addition, the "Falafel Humanity Shirt" is part of a charity project to promote peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. It was initiated by Hamburg-based designer Nikolai Dobreff, with the help of Iranian designer Golnar Kat Rahmani, who lives in Berlin, and Israeli designer Liad Shadmi, who lives in Hamburg.

Die Welt adds that the coffee shop used to be pro-Israel - until October 7, 2023, when it issued a long statement against Israel and then mentioned, by the way, that they were also against antisemitism; please don't vandalize us.