Large Crowd Goes To Coffee Shop After Employees Quit Over Owner's Support For Israel

A group of young baristas at Caffe Aronne found out they aren't as irreplaceable as they thought they were.

A Jewish-owned Manhattan coffee shop almost had to close its doors Tuesday after its anti-Israel employees walked out. That is, until members of the Jewish community came to the rescue.

Droves of people showed up to Caffe Aronne — volunteering to pick up shifts and lining up to purchase coffees, pastries and gift cards.

Shop owner Aaron Dahan said he had tried to talk to the baristas about their "Free Palestine" pins. But instead of having a civil conversation, they quit. He's lost five employees since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.

"Our staff was young. They think they know everything, liberal, college-educated," Dahan told The New York Post. "They think we're supporting genocide, we're supporting colonialism. So they know the keywords but they don't really know what they mean."

Dahan, who is Jewish, has always been open about his support of Israel. And in the days following the Hamas attacks, Caffe Aronne announced it had launched a fundraiser to help Magen David Adom — the Israeli Red Cross.

"Every year Magen David Adom saves the lives of tens of thousands of Israeli Jews, Muslims and Christians," the shop posted on Instagram. "Whether they be religious or secular, straight or gay, man or woman, each life is worth saving."

And even though no sane person would argue with that cause, "our staff was not for it," Dahan said.

Luckily, though, the community was.

Caffe Aronne has seen a significant bump in customers after news spread about their baristas — with local community leaders, doctors and rabbis encouraging people to support the business. Some folks even offered to mop the floors and do the dishes!

"It's insane what's going on," Aaron's mother Peggy said. 'What happened this morning is I got all these texts from people I don't even know saying, 'Peggy, we're coming.' I walk in, two people were hugging me at 8:30 a.m.

"Now there's a line around the corner. It just shows what an amazing community we have."