Jerusalem Cafe gaining sympathetic coverage for Shabbat hours is really a front for Jews for Jesus ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, August 10, 2026

Jerusalem Cafe gaining sympathetic coverage for Shabbat hours is really a front for Jews for Jesus

Haaretz recently wrote about Haredi protests outside a Jerusalem coffee shop open on Shabbat, and about the secular Jews who are supporting it, framing it as yet another example of ultra-Orthodox Jews trying to impose their will on the seculars.

But what they didn't say is that the coffee shop is owned by Jews for Jesus and is meant to convert Jews to Christianity. And its secular supporters don't realize this either.

"I came from Tel Aviv. The secular embrace here makes me feel amazing," said one of them, Anat, as she waited in line. "There's a sense of awakening, and a feeling that we won't quietly surrender to the ultra-Orthodox and religious takeover."

"It starts with the prohibiting you from buying coffee on Shabbat and will continue with sleeves that are meant to hide exposed shoulders. I'm raising three daughters here, and I worry about their individual freedom 20 years from now," she said.

To be sure, the Jews for Jesus connection does not seem to be the main issue that is animating the haredim. There are other coffee shops open on Shabbat in Jerusalem that do not get protests. The problem is that the coffee shop opened very close to an Orthodox neighborhood, as Jewlicious explains.

The alleyway where Café Basimta is located abuts the largely religious Nachlaot neighborhood, and is just two blocks away from where an Orthodox neighborhood lies. The Haredim acquiesce to the non-kosher businesses in the downtown area that are open on Shabbat, as well as those on a side street on the other side of Nachlaot. But they feel that this new café is just a little too close for comfort and, in their minds, it violates an unwritten agreement on the secular/religious status quo in the city.

The owner of the coffee shop, Yoel Ben David, was born to a Scottish Christian father and a Moroccan Jewish mother. He was raised in the Caribbean, England, and Paris. He and his wife seem to have dabbled with Breslov Hasidism for a time; he claims that he grew peyot and wore tzitzit before magically reading Isaiah 53 and finding Jesus. He has an MA in Jewish Ministry and Leadership. He has been the head of Jerusalem's branch of Jews for Jesus and he trains the other missionaries there on how to reach Israeli Jews.

Indeed, the cafe was always meant for converting Jews. In his request for prayers, Yoel asks for "J4J Jerusalem Coffee Shop permits/approvals and evangelism effort." Jews for Jesus itself refers to Basimta as "our beautiful new coffee shop in Jerusalem!"

Jews for Jesus owns other cafes throughout Israel for the same purpose. Interestingly, their Tel Aviv cafe is closed on Shabbat.

It is entirely possible that the Jerusalem Shabbat hours was meant to get the cafe in the newspapers and use that to spread the Gospel. "Jews for Jesus CEO Aaron Abramson knew the decision to open a coffee shop in Jerusalem with Saturday business hours would cause a stir among the city’s ultra-Orthodox," Christianity Today reported. That is not respect - that is planning.

A hint that the Shabbat controversy was the intention all along comes from a 2008 article Ben David co-wrote:

Occurrences of persecution and hostility to the Christian mission in Israel actually broadcast and magnify the Gospel. For example, as a result of hostilities to the Jews for Jesus evangelistic campaigns in the greater Tel-Aviv region in May 2008, we were able to preach the Gospel on national television.

There is no such thing as bad publicity, and opening a cafe next to a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem on Shabbat is a surefire way to get the Haredim upset - and to get the secular Jews to feel sympathetic to the cafe. The same article makes clear that secular Israelis are the target; people who do not know enough about Judaism to argue. So Ben David tells interviewers that he is supporting the freedom of secular Jews in Israel when in fact he is trying to convert them.

Some Israeli supporters of the cafe change their tune when they learn the truth. JTA reports that Hapoel Jerusalem soccer team planned to give Basimta free advertising on their uniforms to support their freedom to open on Shabbat, but changed their minds when they found out the cafe was a front for Jews for Jesus.

“Our original intention was simply to support a small business that was being denied its freedom of operation, and we still believe in that principle,” club spokesperson Matan Avrina told JTA. “However, we also realized that this specific story is more complex than we initially knew.”

(h/t Avi)

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