Friday, February 27th, saw protestors take to the streets of Holloway, North London, in support of the Archway branch of Gail’s bakery, which was attacked twice within days of opening.
First, the walls of the building were daubed with slogans, including “reject corporate Zionism.” The following night, every window of the premises was broken.
What’s the big deal with Gail’s? Founded as a wholesaler in Hendon, London, by Yael Mejia in the early 1990s, half the business was later sold to Tom Molnar and Ran Avidan, who established a chain of cafes close to the original bakery, before extending outwards with a view to becoming a national chain (now on 170+ branches). These surnames have given post-October 7th bigots the flimsy pretext they need to attack the ‘Zionists’ allegedly running the firm.
Except that in 2021, Boston, Massachusetts private investors Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in Gail’s. This means that pro-Palestine activists have protested outside the café (‘Boycott Israel for Genocide and War Crimes in Gaza’) by day and smashed it up by night on the suspicion that Jews are somehow secretly running the business—and (probably) the world.
Given the ‘optics’ of boycotting shops and breaking their windows on the grounds of the alleged owners’ ethnicity, some campaigners have started to backpedal and cite what they see as the twin problems of corporatism and gentrification (reportedly, the UK Liberal Democrats once used “has it got a Gail’s” as criteria for targeting Tory seats). Islington Palestine Solidarity Campaign denied vandalising the shop, but droned on about how
the community was not offered a proper consultation on a manifestly unpopular and inflammatory development.
This Archway premises was previously operated by sandwich-sellers Subway (owned by the private equity group Roark Capital), without any ‘community’ or other protests.
Similar social media backpedalling took place when Jews were the targets of campaigns against clothing store Zara in Leicester and Starbucks and Gail’s (again) in Walthamstow, northeast London.
For local resident Eve Kay, the real motives for trashing Gail’s are all too clear:
I live three minutes walk from here and have lived here for 23 years. This is the first time I’ve seen a business targeted on ethnic and national grounds. It’s hideous racism—a modern-day Kristallnacht, Jewish businesses attacked for being Jewish or seen as Jewish. The anti-corporate/’shop local’ thing is just masking racism and antisemitism.
“Will they do my windows next? It feels like a violation of my personal safety,” she added, condemning an undemocratic act of intimidation.
