Philadelphia is home to a left-wing group called Philly Bike on Your Left. Yesterday the group organized a protest aimed at a handful of Jewish businesses in the city which, according to the left-wingers, have shown support for Israel. 






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A post shared by Philly Bike On Your Left (@phillybike.onyourleft)


The caption for this read:

Big things happening!!! 

Ride around Rittenhouse with us as we show these zionist business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are. We’ll flag as many bikes as we can and show our solidarity with the Palestinian community and oppressed folx everywhere

The protest was basically a group of masked people on bikes riding through the streets with Palestinian flags trying to take business away from a handful of Jewish-owned restaurants. But the protest didn't go as planned. Instead of making a big statement, they created a big backlash in the days leading up to the event.

The rally against the restaurants was cosponsored by an array of groups, including Penn Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and Writers Against the War in Gaza. It also drew attendees from the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which later disavowed the event in a statement. None of the groups, including Philly Bike on Your Left, responded to requests for comment.

In the days leading up to the protest, it drew condemnation from elected officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and the state attorney general, Dave Sunday.

“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest and express their political views,” Ms. Parker said in a statement. “But singling out businesses because their owners are Jewish is unacceptable and has no place in our city.”

Some of the restaurants targeted had partnered with Israeli groups over the years. Some had simply raised funds for victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Others, like Mac Mart, had provided no apparent material support to any Israeli institutions.

“The only reason I could think of is because I wear my Star of David in all of my videos” on social media, Ms. Lieberman said. “Other than that, I’ve never, ever, ever in 14 years mixed religion, politics, or anything with Mac Mart. We serve everyone.”

The result of all this attention was that the protest drew an equally large counter-protest of people and the police struggled to keep the two sides apart.

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A bike ride organized to promote a boycott of several Jewish-owned restaurants drew opposing demonstrators to Philadelphia on Sunday, with people waving Palestinian and Israeli flags exchanging heated words.

NBC Philadelphia witnessed several verbal confrontations between the groups in the city’s Rittenhouse Square.

A line of Philadelphia police officers worked to keep the groups separated as tensions continued to build before the bike ride had even begun.

Three people were arrested Sunday, according to a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department, as about 300 pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with roughly 200 pro-Israeli counterprotesters...

Meanwhile, some of the restaurants targeted by the boycott were seeing long lines of customers supporting.

Some video shows the kind of interactions taking place. Is that first guy with the masked face shouting "Jew!" at the guy with the Israeli flag? It sounds like it to me. But, hey, don't call them antisemitic.

You can really feel the love the counter-protesters were giving these goons.

Here's one of the leaders of this ride unable to explain why some of the restaurants on the list are being boycotted.

And here's the line outside one restaurant that was being boycotted. I don't think it worked out too well.