Philadelphia Group Criticized for Disinviting Israeli Food Vendor From Festival

A Philadelphia-based nonprofit has received a barrage of criticism after caving into threats of protests toward an Israeli-owned food vendor scheduled to appear at its food and cultural festival over the weekend.

On Sunday, Eat Up the Borders was supposed to have held The Taste of Home, an event designed to feature and bring awareness to immigrant-owned businesses across the Philadelphia metropolitan area. But, after receiving protest threats toward Israeli owned-and-operated food vendor Moshava Philly, the organization thought it best to rescind the invitation before ultimately deciding, at the last minute, to cancel the event all together.

"In order to best service our guests, we decided to remove one of our food vendors for Sunday's event so that we could deliver an optimal experience to all" Eat Up the Borders posted to its Instagram page, which has since been made private. According to EUTB's website, its mission is "to break down our everyday barriers through shared experienced through language, food, and culture."

Eat Up the Borders is partnered with nonprofit Sunflower Philly, which focuses on providing access to art, music and sustainable resources through a curated series of programs and events and is committed to maintaining the integrity of the park and green spaces in North Philadelphia.

Moshava Philly, which serves Israeli-inspired food and provides catering for private events, announced its removal from Sunday's event via Instagram, noting how "deeply saddened" it was about being uninvited. It wrote that it hoped the organizers "would step up to the plate and defend local, small and immigrant based businesses, no matter where they are from (as per their so called 'mission statement')."

"We really do hope that in the future you don't succumb to such anti-Semitic and dividing rhetoric and keep true to your words of a safe environment for all religions and nationalities—not just all of them except Israeli and Jewish ones."

in a following post, Moshava Philly said it hoped to meet with representatives from both Eat Up the Borders and Sunflower Philly "to try and educate and grow together in a safe space for everyone." It also noted, "While we were disappointed with how the situation was greatly mishandled we do not believe the organizers intention came from an anti-Semitic place.…"

Still, the decision by Eat Up the Borders drew a range of criticism on social media.

Israeli actress and activist Noa Tishby commented, "We got your back!"

Israeli writer Hen Mazzig posted, "This is so wrong. We're with you."

Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle released a statement in response to the decision that he was "stunned and saddened" and that it represents "surrendering to the threats of bigots."

Boyle went on to say, "If the explanation of the organizers that Moshava's invitation was revoked due to the threat of protests and violence is true, then I believe such threats should be investigated by law enforcement, as no person or organization should be coerced or threatened by the prospect of intimidation or violence."

While the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Philadelphia all noted their disapproval; Moshava Philly also received thousands of comments from other supporters.

Newsweek reached out for comment from Eat Up the Borders and Sunflower Philly, as well as Moshava Philly, but no responses were received as of publication.