Customers of a Gail’s bakery at the centre of an anti-semitism storm have condemned the Guardian over an article suggesting its arrival was an act of ‘heavy-handed aggression’.
The column in the newspaper has prompted a backlash, with accusations of using anti-semitic tropes and encouraging violence – with Conservatives leader Kemi Badenoch among the critics.
The new Gail’s store in Archway, north London, has already been vandalised twice by pro-Palestinian activists since its opening last month.
Opponents accuse Gail’s of complicity in Israel‘s military actions in Gaza, saying its largest shareholder Bain Capital invests in Israeli defence and cybersecurity firms.
In last Saturday’s column, Guardian sports writer Jonathan Liew described the arrival of Gail’s 20 metres away from Palestinian-owned Cafe Metro as ‘symbolic’ and ‘an act of heavy-handed high-street aggression’.
Patrick Welling, a 53-year-old designer, described the article as ‘disgraceful’, saying: ‘I have read that and I think it’s madness. He must live on another planet.
‘There is such a big Jewish community around here. That sort of publication puts their safety at risk. Some people will be so stupid to believe that.
‘Words have consequences. It was an idiotic thing to say. It’s just fuelling hatred against the Jewish community, which is already one of the most under-threat groups of people in the country right now.’
The newly opened Gail’s bakery in Archway, north London, has been targeted by pro-Palestinian campaigners – putting up posters calling for the chain to be boycotted
Locals and customers have rallied round, expressing their support for Gail’s – with John Murray (pictured), 74, saying he will keep going there and to nearby Cafe Metro
James Fitzpatrick (pictured), 85, called Gail’s ‘a big part of the area’, adding: ‘I’ll keep visiting’
Gail’s is based on a firm founded in 1993 by British-Israeli baker Gail Mejia before Israeli entrepreneur Ran Avidan led its expansion from 2005 onwards, opening its first branch in nearby Hampstead, though neither remain involved with the business.
In 2021 Boston-based private investment fund Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in the business that now has 170 outlets across the country.
A string of Gail’s branches – including its new Archway café – have recently been targeted by anti-Israel activists.
The business says it has ‘no links with any country or government outside the UK’ and its chief executive has branded the campaign against it ‘completely unacceptable’.
Now customers have been rallying around, as they continued to turn up at the Archway branch – vowing to support staff and criticising the Guardian column.
Locals told how windows at the Gail’s in Archway were recently smashed and it has been often covered in posters calling for the outlet to be boycotted.
The new Gail’s bakery in the area is close to an independent Palestinian cafe called Cafe Metro, whose owners have distanced themselves from any rivalry – saying: ‘We compete with them legally.’
Members of staff at Gail’s said they were unable to comment, but one said: ‘We’re all okay. The support from the community has been good.’
Gail’s in Archway, north London, pictured after it was attacked by vandals. A Guardian column has now described the opening of the shop as an ‘act of heavy-handed high-street aggression’
The previous attack on the Archway branch took place just hours before it opened to the public
The Archway Gail’s pictured after it was daubed in graffiti last month
John Murray, 74, a retired car dealer, said the claims in the column were ‘a load of rubbish’, adding: ‘Gail’s are on every high street now, especially in north London. It’s a place where you can go and get food and a coffee – it’s nothing more than that.
‘I worry about what some people say. Things like that will wind people up. We need less of that right now.
‘I’ll certainly visit Gail’s. I’ll keep going there. I also go to Cafe Metro. It’s just food.’
Peter Waddington, 75, who has lived in Archway most of his life, said the columnist’s comments were wrong, adding: ‘Gail’s are everywhere. It’s got nothing to do with politics.
‘There’s a huge Jewish community here. They don’t need more abuse. I have come from Limehouse and there’s an enormous problem with anti-semitism there.
‘The idea that Gail’s moved in there just to irritate a Palestinian café owner is ludicrous.’
Lindsay Ostley, 45, said the claims were ‘total anti-semitism’, adding: ‘I have a lot of Jewish friends. I feel so sorry for them at the moment. Conflating the policies of the Israeli government, its military and linking that to all Jews is terrible.
‘As is this theory that they are in control – it’s appalling.
The Guardian article features an interview with Palestinian cafe owners in Archway, north London, pictured, where a new branch of Gail’s was recently established
‘The Guardian has form for this. My friends cannot speak about which synagogues they go to out of fear. They’re terrified. They are scared to admit they’re Jewish. That’s a truly shocking place to be in Britain.’
James Fitzpatrick, 85, described the claims as ‘mad’, saying: ‘I really like Gail’s. They’re a big part of the area. I’ll keep visiting.’
But nearby stall owner Hassan Mustafa, 68, who works outside the two locations, says he is boycotting Gail’s.
He said: ‘I want to leave politics out of it. I will not use Gail’s. I will not use them until Israel stops killing children.’
When asked about the link, and his position, he said: ‘I have read and heard that Gail supports the Israeli army. Maybe they do not. I am not going to investigate it.’
Mahmoud, owner of Cafe Metro, said he had not read the full Guardian opinion piece, adding: ‘The Guardian journalist came here to talk about our supper clubs.
‘I did not read that part of the column. I do not know what Gail’s intentions are, only God does.’
He added that he has many Jewish customers.
Nearby stall owner Hassan Mustafa, 68, says he is boycotting Gail’s
The Guardian column at issue included: ‘Palestinian activism has arguably never been less capable of exerting a meaningful influence on global events, and so is increasingly defined by small acts of petty symbolism.
‘A smashed window. A provocative sticker. You can’t lay a glove on the US-Israeli military-industrial complex, and you can’t get your local council to boycott Israeli goods, and you couldn’t stand with
‘Action and the protest march on Sunday has been banned by the Metropolitan police. So some people then direct their ire at the bakery with distant links to Israeli security funding.’
Alex Gandler, the Israeli embassy’s spokesman in the UK, called the article published last Saturday ‘an astonishing exercise in bigotry disguised as moral commentary’.
He said: ‘The piece romanticises one group while casting another as shadowy outsiders, manipulating local life from behind the scenes. That framework is not insightful social commentary.
‘It is a very old prejudice wearing new clothes. Liew, a sports writer, attempts to turn North London cafes and shopfronts into a symbolic battlefield of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
‘In doing so, he falls into a trope that has echoed through centuries of European discourse: the insinuation that Jewish success or presence represents some form of encroachment by powerful “global” forces.’
‘This is not sophisticated political analysis. It is a caricature. What emerges from the column is a narrative in which local shopkeepers are implicitly cast as victims of vaguely defined “Zionist” or “global” influence.
‘That framing has a long and deeply troubling history. It has been used repeatedly to stigmatise Jewish communities as alien economic actors rather than ordinary members of society.’
And Ms Badenoch has also intervened, telling the Jewish News it was ‘extraordinary that Gail’s bakeries are being attacked now, supposedly because they are Israeli-owned’.
She said: ‘This is just a cover – it’s anti-semitism. It is disgusting. We need to stamp out this culture.
‘We need more enforcement, more punishment for people who carry out these violent acts – they are trying to intimidate people.
‘I think it was an utterly ridiculous column – appalling, actually.’
Now Gail’s chief executive Tom Molnar has hit back too, saying the firm would ‘not accept hate and intimidation in our bakeries’.
He added: ‘We are a neighbourhood bakery that is on a mission to feed more people, better. We are firm believers that a healthy high street is a diverse one made up of many different businesses, from many different backgrounds, each playing its part.
‘We want to serve the best possible food to our communities, and the vandalism we experienced in Archway serves as a distraction from doing just that.’
The Guardian has said in a statement: ‘Complaints about Guardian journalism are considered by the internally independent readers’ editor under the Guardian’s editorial code and guidance.’
