Vandals shattered the front window of the Golden Globe diner. earlier this month. Photo by Stewart Ain

By Stewart Ain July 29, 2024

Jewish customers supported a Long Island diner last October after it was boycotted by local residents upset that the owner had put posters of hostages abducted from Israel in the business’ front window, and began flying Israeli flags at its entrances. Now, after vandals smashed that window at the Golden Globe diner, they again have its back.

Peter Klein, 37,  learned through social media that the diner’s window had been shattered during the early morning hours of July 12, an incident Suffolk County police said they are investigating as a hate crime. Klein set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise $7,500 to replace the window and called the campaign “Stand Behind Peter & the Golden Globe Diner,” for Peter Tsadilas, who owns the Huntington, New York, eatery. Donations will also go toward enhancing security and fixing table damaged in a previous incident of vandalism.

As of Monday, more than $13,600 has been raised through the campaign by more than 300 donors.

Several other incidents of antisemitic and anti-Israel vandalism have been reported in recent days.

Pittsburgh Jews awoke Monday to graffiti declaring “Jews 4 Palestine” and an inverted red triangle — a symbol Hamas uses to identify targets — painted on the facade of the Chabad of Squirrel Hills’ building. And vandals scrawled “Funds genocide ♥ Jews, Hate Zionist” on a sign outside the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. On the same day in Brooklyn, a branch of Citibank was spattered in red paint and a warning to “defund now.” Pro-Palestinian protesters have targeted the bank in the past for its ties to Israel.

“It’s a shame,” Klein, of nearby Plainview, said of the harassment faced by Tsadilas, who has also been subjected to hecklers who shout at the diner that he is supporting genocide in Gaza.

Tsadilas is not Jewish, but after Oct. 7 decided to use his business (which was previously called the Golden Dolphin and still bears a sign with that name) to express support for the hostages and Israel.

Ronen and Orna Neutra, whose son, Omer, 22, was raised on Long Island and is now a hostage in Gaza, have been a frequent visitors to the diner since Tsadilas put a picture of their son and the other hostages in its front window. They had lunch at the diner, along with a dozen friends, two days before they flew to Milwaukee to address the Republican National Convention on July 17.

“I made them promise that when their son comes back safe and sound they will all come to the diner and we’ll take down all the posters together in one shot,” Tsadilas said.

Debbie Kaplan of Northport, Long Island, said she has been to the diner four times since Oct. 7 and contributed to the GoFundMe campaign when she learned of the broken window. “I thought it was disgusting,” she said, sitting at one of five tables that had been previously damaged by vandals. “He is simply expressing his free speech and is being vandalized for it,” she said during a meal there on Sunday.

Norman Zipkin, 71, and his wife, Helene, said they drove 45 minutes from their home in Fresh Meadows, Queens, in New York City, to have lunch at the diner after learning about the smashed window. They said they too had contributed to the GoFundMe campaign.

“Hate has no limit,” Norman Zipkin said. “Anybody who is a friend of Israel needs our support, especially when they have been hurt by people who don’t understand.”

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