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REPORT: Staff Quit Bagel Shop As New Jewish Owner Arrives, Forcing It To Close

Warm Golden Sesame Bagels on Wire Rack

Lummi/Public/Pablo Stanley

Ilan Hulkower Contributor
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The staff of the Detroit Institute of Bagels quit or were fired in July over protests about Israel just as the new Jewish manager arrived, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported Wednesday.

The shop was forced to close temporarily due to the mounting tensions between the pro-Palestinian staff and their Jewish owners, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Harvard Vows To Find ‘Root Causes Of Antisemitism’ As Judge Allows Discrimination Lawsuit To Advance)

The Detroit Institute of Bagels belonged to Philip Kafka, a pro-Israel Jewish business owner and property developer, who sold it to his Jewish Israeli business partner Arad Kauf, JTA reported. The origins of the tension between the staff and management reportedly arose after Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel that left around 1200 Israelis dead and over 250 captive.

In addition to the new ownership’s purported zionism, the first two staffers who resigned complained about alleged poor business practices and “lack of transparency,” the outlet reported.

“I would call you a vulture, but I like vultures too much to demean their good name,” a third staffer wrote, according to JTA. This staffer also added that they had no issue with Judaism, which was “a beautiful religion,” but took offense to Zionism because they believed it was “deeply anti-semitic.”

“My own core beliefs do not allow me to work for a zionist,” another staffer reportedly wrote.

The Detroit Institute of Bagels started as a Jewish bakery and Deli, according to the business’s website. Kauf, the new owner, is from Tel Aviv but told JTA that he did not know if the politically-minded staff were aware he was from Israel when they handed in their resignations.

Kafka, the former owner, responded to the first wave of resignations by imploring the remaining staff who shared the same views “based on rumors about me, our heritage or our presumed politics” to also resign, the outlet reported. When more staff handed in their resignations, Kafka shut the store down and fired the remaining staff, JTA reported.

“I was shocked that two people who I had only shared casual good mornings with felt that they knew what I believed about a topic as complicated and tragic as the situation in the Middle East,” Kafka wrote in a letter to his tenants and business partners.

Kafka claimed in the letter that he tried to sit down with the staff to discuss the matter but they declined to take him up on these opportunities, JTA reported. One of Kafka’s tenants, Javier Bardauil, a Brazilian restaurateur with familial ties to Lebanon, told the outlet that pro-Palestine protesters now boycotted his restaurant. “The worst part is they don’t know what they’re talking about.” Bardauil said that he probably disagrees with Kafka’s view about the conflict.

Kauf plans to relaunch the Detroit Institute of Bagels as part of Cafe Prince, but he is not sure if his family wants to remain in Detroit for long, the outlet reported.