The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into a Brooklyn coffee shop after the business publicly announced it had turned away Rep. Dan Goldman due to his stance on Israel — a move that federal officials say may have broken the law.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the probe Monday on the social media platform X, stating: “The Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation and will bring an enforcement action if warranted.”
Dhillon further noted that “Federal law prohibits public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on their race, religion, or national origin.”
The controversy centers on Poetica, a cafe located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, which published and then removed a social media post following Goldman’s visit to the shop during a Democratic primary campaign stop.
In the now-deleted message, the cafe wrote: “Hey Congressman Dan Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference?”
The business also stated it had issued Goldman a refund without him requesting one, adding: “We don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways,” — a reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Goldman spoke about the incident during an interview on CNN with anchor Laura Coates, describing the in-person experience at the cafe as entirely pleasant. He explained that he had originally entered the shop because his seven-year-old daughter needed to use the restroom. After a barista accommodated his daughter, Goldman said he purchased a coffee and left a generous tip.
“I had such a nice interaction with the barista in the coffee shop,” Goldman said. “She was wearing a hijab, I didn’t know her, but she couldn’t have been nicer and allowed my daughter to go use the bathroom, and I honestly was so grateful for her kindness that I felt like I should buy a coffee, and so I did, and I gave her a large tip.”
Goldman said the situation pointed to a deeper divide in the country. “It’s a reflection, I think, of a sad state of affairs that without knowing me, we could have had such a nice interaction,” he said.
The episode unfolded just before Goldman’s Democratic primary race against former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who has made Goldman’s previous support from AIPAC a central issue in the campaign.
