BDS harassment forces closure of Israeli-owned D.C. restaurant

After a decade of success, a plant-based kosher eatery permanently shut down following an intense anti-Israel campaign by the BDS movement.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli-owned restaurant chain in Washington, D.C., has permanently closed its doors after nearly two years of harassment by BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) demonstrators, who proudly acknowledged that they targeted the business following the October 7 massacres because it was partially owned by an Israeli.

Shouk, a plant-based, kosher, fast-casual eatery known for its Mediterranean fare, operated several branches before the Israel-Hamas war. The restaurant had garnered positive attention from major media outlets, including The Washington Post and the Food Network.

Despite more than a decade of success, all Shouk locations shut down earlier this month after an increasingly aggressive campaign that demonized its owners — two Jewish men, one American and one Israeli — as being “complicit in Israeli apartheid.”

Dennis Friedman, the American co-owner, told Fox Business that Shouk had always been a welcoming space for “people of all races, colors, and creeds to come together to enjoy food.”

He rejected activists’ claims that the restaurant was “appropriating” Palestinian cuisine, noting that many dishes on the menu are common across multiple Mediterranean cultures.

Friedman explained that the harassment made the dining experience intolerable for its patrons, and the business simply could not withstand the constant hostility directed at customers.

“We had everything from little children coming into the store during a busy lunch screaming ‘Free Palestine’ while their parents videoed for social media,” he said, emphasizing that the protests were part of a “very coordinated” strategy launched with the intent to destroy the business.

He added that activists plastered “posters of dead baby Palestinian children on the windows or on our seating outside,” and said BDS proponents used “vandalism, intimidation, and … maybe things we don’t even know” to disrupt operations.

In a triumphant Instagram post, the D.C. branch of the BDS movement boasted about shuttering the eatery.

“Shouk WAS one of the main targets of our ‘APARTHEID? I DON’T BUY IT’ consumer boycott initiative!” the group bragged.

“Much of what they served was Palestinian food that they culturally appropriated as ‘Israeli street food,’” they falsely claimed.

“Additionally, they imported Israeli ingredients for their dishes. TODAY WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT, AS OF OCTOBER 1, 2025, SHOUK HAS CLOSED ITS DOOR [sic], PERMANENTLY!”