Earlier this month, Fayes Coffee was the victim of “review bombing” after an employee wrote a message of support for Gaza and Palestine on a board outside the cafe’s 18th Street entrance.
“Solidarity with Gaza. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the sign read on October 7, the same day Hamas militants invaded Israel, ultimately killing more than 1,400 Israelis. Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza killed more than 4,000 Palestinians.
The sandwich-style message — “from the river to the sea” — has been a recurring slogan for Palestinian liberation used by Palestinians and their allies for decades. But for many Israelis and supporters of Israel, the slogan is seen as hidden shorthand for the eradication of the state of Israel.
A customer saw the message and complained to staff about it, said Michael McConnell, the store’s owner. Photos of the sign and the complaint later circulated in Jewish Facebook groups, prompting a wave of more than 400 negative reviews with one star on each. Whineand others on Google.
The message is no longer displayed, but the effect was immediate: Fayes’s ratings fell sharply.
“This place supports terrorists!!” read one recent one-star review, along with others saying the same. Others made no mention of terrorism at all, instead criticizing the coffee, food and waitstaff (which, as a takeaway, Fayes does not offer).
“Worst coffee I’ve ever had, spend your money elsewhere. Service was rude and unpleasant,” read another post by a Fresh Yorker. Most of the commenters were from outside San Francisco, likely never having been to the coffee shop.
At the same time, the cafe was receiving complaints and threats over the phone from callers from all over the country, such as Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago, McConnell said. Some even called from Israel.
“Most of our regulars had no idea what was going on,” McConnell said.
In defense of the cafe, Food Not Bombs — a local food distribution organization — posted on Instagram the next day encouraging users to write positive reviews in support of Fayes’ employees.
“This place is flooded with false reviews about its pro-Palestinian stance and does not reflect the quality of the coffee or the people who work here,” read one recent — positive — Yelp review.
All recent reviews — good and bad — were later removed from Google, McConnell said. While all of them remain noticeable on Yelp, recent comments have been suspended: a pop-up message on the site reads: “unusual activity alert.”
The cafe’s rating has increased slightly, to an average of two and a half stars.
Fayes has been a fixture in the area since it opened 25 years ago, originally as a video rental shop. The shop sells coffee and pastries and occasionally still rents out movies from its remaining DVD collection.
McConnell said all of the company’s employees live nearby, know customers by name and are involved in the community.
But the online backlash has been a significant source of stress for the cafe’s owners and employees, who have been left shaken, McConnell said. Some employees still feel uneasy about going to work, he said, at a place that is known in the community for being protected and inclusive.
“If anyone knew who we were, they wouldn’t say that,” he said.
