A Queens deli is stubbornly refusing to change its controversial name – even after over a year’s worth of complaints from Jewish New Yorkers who said it makes them feel unsafe.
The Gaza Deli and Grill on 48th Street in Woodside features painted slogans including “Save Gaza” and “Free Al Aqsa” – a phrase used as a call for Israel’s removal from Jerusalem – as well as images of a keffiyeh-clad woman and watermelon
“Seeing these messages on a neighborhood deli feels like a punch to the gut. It’s not just a mural – it’s a message. And to someone like me, it’s a reminder that even here, in the place I came to for peace, I’m still not safe,” Natalie Sanandaji told The Post.
Sanandaji, 30 — who was at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis — spotted the deli while heading to Brooklyn earlier this week.
“I came back to New York hoping for safety and stability — instead, I feel alienated in a city I once called home,” said Sanandaji. “I’m surrounded by people who glorify and call Oct. 7 a ‘resistance,’ like it’s a good thing…people who would celebrate the fact that I almost died.”
Sanandaji — who now works as a public affairs officer for the Combat Antisemitism Movement — likened the bodega’s name to calling it “9/11 Deli” or “Holocaust Deli.”
“It’s the same connotation,” she said.
The deli’s owner dismissed the notion that Jews could take offense to his store’s branding – telling The Post, “they like to make excuses to make it sound like they’re always the victim.”
“We don’t turn down any customers and, believe it or not, we have a lot of Jewish customers who still to this day come into the business. Everyone is welcome, we don’t turn anyone away,” Bilal Alghazali said. “There’s no reason for fear.”
Alghazali, 26, said he named the bodega to honor his mother’s Palestinian roots and clamed he’s gotten multiple death threats since the deli opened in February 2024.
But he said he doesn’t regret the name — and even plans to name his future daughter “Gaza.”
Michelle Ahdoot, the director of End Jew Hatred, said the signage features “the same kind of artwork that is used by Hamas to glorify violence against Jews.”
“There is a complete lack of sensitivity to Jewish New Yorkers who have experienced such a massive increase in Jew-hatred and now are seeing this deli being used to spread distorted politicized messages,” Ahdoot told The Post.
Raif Rashed, the Israeli owner of the Flatiron restaurant Taboonia, called the deli’s messaging “crazy.”
“There are too many Hamas supporters here in New York,” Rashed said.
Read the full article here
