Landlord to Scottish bagel shop owner: Coronavirus rent negotiation is ‘typical Jewish behavior’
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The Jewish owner of a bagel chain in Scotland said she was “shocked” after the landlord of one of her stores called her request for an alternative rent payment because of the coronavirus crisis “typical Jewish behavior.”
Larah Bross, who owns Bross Bagels, told the Edinburgh News late last week that she has had to close her five stores and furlough 39 of her 47 staff members because of the pandemic. (The rest are filling limited delivery orders.) Like many other small-business owners, she realized she would not be able to pay April’s rent and so reached out to her landlord.
Landlord Mario Aydemir Demirezen, currently in Turkey for private medical care, told her in a text message that her desire to negotiate the rent in writing was “typical Jewish behavior.”
He told the newspaper from Turkey that he is certain Bross has the money to pay him, as his other renters have. He said it would be difficult to make arrangements from out of the country.
“She is a clever Jewish lady and she is taking advantage of Covid-19 and making more (money) than anyone else,” he told the newspaper. “When I say typical Jewish, I mean they are the richest people in the world and very clever people. She should be proud of her Jewish identity. Jewish people are always clever and there’s nothing wrong with that, she should be proud.”
Edinburgh Council leader Adam McVey in a tweet called Demirezen’s comments “disgraceful” and “casual anti-Semitism.”
Bross told the newspaper she is not sure that she will be able to maintain a relationship with her landlord now, even if anticipated government support allows her to pay the rent.
“I would love to know in any context at any time where the term ‘typical Jewish’ was used as a compliment,” she told the Edinburgh News. “I will be happy to offer free bagels for a year to anyone who can provide me with one.”
The post Landlord to Scottish bagel shop owner: Coronavirus rent negotiation is ‘typical Jewish behavior’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
