by Katie Vasquez
Dozens of loyal customers continuously come to Ayat for the Palestinian dishes. The restaurant is located in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.
Customers like Pegah Pasalar have stopped by three times since the location opened on December 21st.
“The food is great. I mean, Palestinian food is just one of my most favorite cuisine. But also this restaurant is amazing,” said Ayat customer, Pegah Pasalar.
But recently, the eatery has been caught in the middle of a war happening thousands of miles away.
Since the conflict between Hamas and Israel began in October, all of Ayat’s five locations in New York City have been bombarded with one star reviews.
“We were at five and then it kept going down,” said Ayat owner, Abdul Elenani.
Elenani says he’s used to terrible feedback now and again, but he says the comments online have taken a frightening turn
“These messages came out about, we’re going to bomb, you were going to bomb your places, we’re gonna do all this,” said Elenani.
And makes him fear for the safety of his family.
“Now we have a baby so it’s different. so that that care level just kind of like, spikes up and you become more protective.”
Many people are attacking Ayat’s menu, its named “from the river to the sea”
They say it’s a call to action against Jews, erasing the state of Israel.
Elenani said, “they have this idea that I’m an anti-semite and I want to kill Jews when it’s nowhere near the case.”
Elenani says he doesn’t care about the bad business, he just wants the war to end.
“If I lose everything, I don’t care. It’s more about people living in normal peace. It’s waking up in the morning knowing that my child is safe to go to school, not be bulldozed or killed by this random missile or rocket,” said Elenani.