On March 15, the Lower Merion community discovered spray painted graffiti that read “Free Gaza” on the side of a local Jewish-owned restaurant, Nana’s Kitchen. In response, local community groups and organizers planned a protest, in solidarity with the business’s owners, on March 17 at the Narberth train station that attracted over seventy attendees. The news of the graffiti was made public after a neighboring business owner noticed the graffiti while taking out the trash on March 14. The graffiti was located on the side of Nana’s Kitchen, down a rarely frequented alleyway. The Lower Merion Police Department believes the graffiti could have been present for up to a week before being seen.On March 15, the Lower Merion community discovered spray painted graffiti that read “Free Gaza” on the side of a local Jewish-owned restaurant, Nana’s Kitchen. In response, local community groups and organizers planned a protest, in solidarity with the business’s owners, on March 17 at the Narberth train station that attracted over seventy attendees.
The news of the graffiti was made public after a neighboring business owner noticed the graffiti while taking out the trash on March 14. The graffiti was located on the side of Nana’s Kitchen, down a rarely frequented alleyway. The Lower Merion Police Department believes the graffiti could have been present for up to a week before being seen.
The protest lasted from 4 to 4:30 p.m., and featured speakers from local Jewish groups. When interviewed, community member and protest organizer Tali Rener Brotzi explained her understanding of what had happened, as well as her immediate reaction as a Jewish community member: “We woke up to the news that graffiti was sprayed on the wall of Nana’s Kitchen, a Jewish-owned business,” says Rener Brotzi. In her opinion, “the vandalism was clearly against that business, against the owners of that business.”
The news of the graffiti was made public after a neighboring business owner noticed the graffiti while taking out the trash on March 14. The graffiti was located on the side of Nana’s Kitchen, down a rarely frequented alleyway. The Lower Merion Police Department believes the graffiti could have been present for up to a week before being seen.
When the news was released to the public, members of Lower Merion’s Jewish community banded together to plan a protest in support of Nana’s Kitchen. Rener Brotzi further explained the rapid planning process of the event: “We have this amazing community. It started with hearing about the news on Friday morning, and we just decided when and where, called up the Narberth police and Narberth mayor, told them we wanted to host this event, and spread the word.”
A common theme touched on by those interviewed at the protest was the belief that no political ideology warranted graffiti like what happened at Nana’s Kitchen. Many protesters expressed deep concern and shared their condolences for the business and its owners, denouncing the graffiti as an unwarranted attack. Karen Averill, community member and attendee at the protest stated that this community is “very multicultural and multi religious.” She further maintained that she believed the act of graffiti “has nothing to do with Gaza,” but is simply “blatant antisemitism.” Averill condemned the act further in an interview: “It is an antisemitic trope to put something like “Free Gaza” and to harass a Jewish-owned business which has no control over the war in Gaza.” Rener Brotzi explained that this isolated instance “is blankly antisemitism,” and made the argument that “no matter your political stance, these business owners are not responsible for any of the political issues in Israel.”
One speaker took to the megaphone to share a message: “We need to be one people together, because the Palestinians sure have it. We need a united community to stand against them.” A bystander who was present at the protest but wishes to remain anonymous commented on the nature of some of the statements made: “I felt really uncomfortable and unsafe listening to it. I came by just to check out what was happening, but as a Jew this doesn’t feel like the right way to react. “Free Gaza” isn’t inherently antisemitic, but some of the speeches I’ve been listening to seem shockingly violent [towards] Palestinians. I think I’m just wondering if this protest was really warranted.”
Many protesters however disagreed, claiming that the graffiti was a clear sign of the increasing prevalence of antisemitism in the Lower Merion community and surrounding areas. Averill claims that “if we were to put down our arms, there would be no Israel. If the Arabs would put down their arms, there would be no war.” Rener Brotzi left her testimony with a similar message: “If people have issues with the war with the Israeli government I can understand that, I cannot understand personal attacks against Jews. I think we can all agree that we want to free Gaza from Hamas.”
The graffiti at Nana’s Kitchen sparked not only community reactions, but deeper thought about the implications of such actions in the Lower Merion community. While large portions of the Lower Merion community view the graffiti as a direct and overt act of antisemitism, others have expressed uncertainty and discomfort about the rhetoric produced at the protest. For people on all sides of the discussion, this is just one example of the protest and debate that has taken over Lower Merion in recent months.
