Overview

• The lawsuit filed June 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California names owner Fathi Abdulrahim Harara and Native Grounds LLC as defendants.
• DOJ alleges staff twice ordered Jewish customers wearing Star of David baseball caps to leave and hurled anti-Semitic slurs during incidents last June and October.
• Plaintiffs cite the shop’s one-year anniversary drinks referencing Palestinian militant figures and inverted red triangles on exterior walls as evidence of discriminatory intent.
• Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon condemned the refusals as “illegal, intolerable, and reprehensible” and committed the department to combating anti-Semitism.
• Local officials including Rep. Ro Khanna and Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee publicly denounced the coffee house’s alleged anti-Jewish actions.