Rep. Dan Goldman was banned from a Brooklyn coffee shop due to his views on Israel. The coffee shop, Poetica Coffee, posted a photo of Goldman and a receipt of a refund on its Instagram page, which has since been taken down.

Goldman’s Response

Goldman addressed the incident on CNN, calling it ‘sad’ and stating that he had a nice interaction with the barista, who was wearing a hijab. He said he was grateful for her kindness and decided to buy a coffee and give her a large tip.

The since-deleted post from Poetica Coffee referenced AIPAC, saying to Goldman, ‘we don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways).’ The post also accused Goldman of supporting genocide, which Goldman denies.

Primary Challenge

Goldman is facing a tough primary challenge from former city comptroller Brad Lander, who is backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Lander has referred to Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a genocide, which the Israeli government denies.

Goldman accused Lander of using AIPAC ‘as a dog whistle’ and said that he would ‘refuse to cave into that type of rhetoric and that divisiveness.’ Goldman stated that he supports the existence of Israel as a Jewish state but does not support everything the government does.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.