The owner of a Palestinian restaurant in New York City says he’s receiving two death threats a minute after printing the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ on menus.
Abdul Elenani, 30, who owns Ayat eatery with five branches across the city, said he’s been bombarded with bloodcurdling threats since the opening of his latest outlet in Brooklyn five days ago, after some locals claimed the menu slogan was anti-Semitic.
Along with his Palestinian wife, Ayat Masoud, 33, Elenani launched the first eponymous restaurant in October 2020. He was on the way to report the messages they had received as a hate crime when he stopped to speak with DailyMail.com.
‘I’m getting probably 10 threats every five minutes,’ Elenani said. ‘I’m contacting the police and I’m going to file for a hate crime.’
The messages range from people threatening to ‘blow up’ the restaurants, to vaguer menaces telling the owners ‘the Jews are coming to annihilate you’ while calling them ‘rapists’ and ‘terrorists’. Many were too vulgar to publish.
Abdul Elenani, 30, who owns Ayat eatery with three branches across the city, said he’s been bombarded with an average of ‘two threats per minute’ following the opening of his latest outlet in Brooklyn five days ago. (Pictured: Ayat owners Abdul Elenani and Ayat Masoud)
![The owner of a Palestinian restaurant in New York City has said he's been flooded with death threats after word spread about the 'from the river to the sea' slogan on their menu. (Pictured: the latest branch of Ayat, which opened in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, five days ago)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/21/79414951-12907705-The_owner_of_a_Palestinian_restaurant_in_New_York_City_has_said_-a-28_1703798373007.jpg)
The owner of a Palestinian restaurant in New York City has said he’s been flooded with death threats after word spread about the ‘from the river to the sea’ slogan on their menu. (Pictured: the latest branch of Ayat, which opened in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, five days ago)
![Elenani has added a paragraph underneath 'from the river to the sea' on his new menus to define what the slogan meant to Palestinian people like his wife and her family](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/20/79415573-12907705-image-m-20_1703797140153.jpg)
Elenani has added a paragraph underneath ‘from the river to the sea’ on his new menus to define what the slogan meant to Palestinian people like his wife and her family
Many Jews – and anti-Semitism watchdog the Anti-Defamation League – consider ‘from the river to the sea’ to be an anti-Jewish phrase because it appears to call for the violent destruction of Israel.
The full phrase is ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ and refers to the Mediterranean Sea and River Jordan, which sit on either side of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
Dahlia Scheitzer, a resident in the neighborhood, previously said that while the business may claim ‘they’re just advocating for freedom’, she felt ‘they’re poking the hornet’s nest by using the phrase and they know what they are doing.’
Asked about claims he was being more provocative by including the slogan than he was letting on, Elenani countered by saying that many Jewish people had also voiced support for the restaurant. He shared some of their messages on his business’ social media.
Ayat’s owners previously told the New York Times they had lost a few Jewish friends who became uncomfortable with their restaurant, and some of the recent threats appear to come from believers of the faith.
Elenani said he was worried about the safety of his staff, and had considered removing ‘from the river to the sea’ from their menus to soothe the rising tensions.
But he decided against it, reasoning that the phrase had been ‘misinterpreted’. He added that Palestinians and Muslims should not have to ‘constantly re-define ourselves’.
‘We have always been misunderstood, we have always been called terrorists,’ he said. ‘In reality, we are not bad people. We are peace loving.’
Instead, Elenani opted to add a paragraph underneath to define what the slogan meant to Palestinian people like his wife and her family.
Just below ‘from the river to the sea’, the new menu reads: ‘This mantra stands for Palestinians to have equal rights and freedoms in their own country.
‘In no way does this advocate any kind of violence. It signifies peace and freedom.’
Elaborating, Elenani said: ‘It literally means freedom for Palestinians. That’s the simple meaning of it. We created the slogan and the mantra and that’s what it means.
‘In the new paragraph I’m making it clear what we as Palestinians mean as a community. We are calling for basic rights, nothing else.’
Speaking about the ongoing bombardment of Palestine by Israel, he added: ‘Over 20,000 people – women and children – have been killed in Gaza.’
Israel began their onslaught after Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7 in a surprise attack – the worst atrocity carried out against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
![Along with his Palestinian wife, Ayat Masoud, 33, Elenani launched the first eponymous restaurant in October 2020. (Pictured: the interior of the newest restaurant in Ditmas Park)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/21/79415609-12907705-image-a-21_1703797230392.jpg)
Along with his Palestinian wife, Ayat Masoud, 33, Elenani launched the first eponymous restaurant in October 2020. (Pictured: the interior of the newest restaurant in Ditmas Park)
![Ayat's owners previously told the New York Times they had lost a few Jewish friends who became uncomfortable with their restaurant, and some of the recent threats appear to come from believers of the faith. (Pictured: the interior of the newest restaurant in Ditmas Park)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/21/79415611-12907705-image-a-22_1703797233374.jpg)
Ayat’s owners previously told the New York Times they had lost a few Jewish friends who became uncomfortable with their restaurant, and some of the recent threats appear to come from believers of the faith. (Pictured: the interior of the newest restaurant in Ditmas Park)
![A menu at Ayat's Manhattan restaurant in the East Village reading 'down with the occupation'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/21/79415615-12907705-A_menu_at_Ayat_s_Manhattan_restaurant_in_the_East_Village_readin-a-29_1703798373197.jpg)
A menu at Ayat’s Manhattan restaurant in the East Village reading ‘down with the occupation’
The latest branch of Ayat opened in Ditmas Park, which is among the most affluent areas of Brooklyn, while the borough-at-large one of the most heavily Jewish populated regions on earth.
Many local Jews have professed their fondness for the restaurant and branded it a very welcoming place to have dinner.
‘You know how much I love Ayat and as a Jewish person have NEVER felt any hostility visiting any of your locations!’ one woman wrote.
‘Unfortunately it doesn’t matter how much you explain, those committed to misunderstand you will continue to do so.’
‘As a Jew, I want to say I am sorry about the vile messages you have received,’ another person wrote.
‘I will be encouraging all of my friends – who, like me, are not vile racists, and who support the Palestinian cause – to stop by your business.’
Elenani added that the graphic designer who created his menus, including penning the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’, is also Jewish.
Hania Khattab, 19, who waitresses at the newest branch of Ayat, told DailyMail.com she fears for her life after seeing the bomb threats sent to Elenani’s business Instagram.
She said servers come from a mix of Hispanic, Arab, and Turkish descents, along with a Palestinian chef who makes traditional food from the country, and that patrons span all religions and cultures in the diverse neighborhood.
Elenani also pointed out that ‘from the river to the sea’ has been written proudly across his Bay Ridge restaurant walls for three years, and no-one has complained about it.
![Hania Khattab, 19, who waitresses at the newest branch of Ayat, told DailyMail.com she fears for her life after seeing the bomb threats sent to Elenani's business Instagram](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/21/79415607-12907705-Hania_Khattab_19_who_waitresses_at_the_newest_branch_of_Ayat_tol-m-27_1703797437087.jpg)
Hania Khattab, 19, who waitresses at the newest branch of Ayat, told DailyMail.com she fears for her life after seeing the bomb threats sent to Elenani’s business Instagram
![Elenani said he was worried about the safety of his staff, and had considered removing 'from the river to the sea' from their menus to soothe the rising tensions - but he decided against it because he does not want his identity to be censored](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/21/79415613-12907705-image-a-23_1703797237898.jpg)
Elenani said he was worried about the safety of his staff, and had considered removing ‘from the river to the sea’ from their menus to soothe the rising tensions – but he decided against it because he does not want his identity to be censored
Coined in the 1960’s, the phrase refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which sandwich both Israel and Palestine. It has been seen as increasingly divisive since the horrific October 7 Hamas incursion into Israel which killed 1,200 people.
In November, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House after using the slogan – which House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned as being ‘widely understood as calling for the complete destruction of Israel’.
Chanted in pro-Palestine rallies from Washington to London, it’s been co-opted by some as a call for a single state in the Israel-Palestine region.
The phrase is also contentious because it appeared in the Hamas charter, and over the years the terror group had adopted it to drive its claim to land spanning Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
‘Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north,’ Khaled Mashaal, the group’s former leader, said in a 2012 speech in Gaza celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas.
‘There will be no concession on any inch of the land.’