Brooklyn coffee chain tells Rep. Dan Goldman not to return

A Brooklyn coffee chain turned an ordinary restroom stop into a political confrontation after Rep. Dan Goldman walked into Poetica Coffee and left with a refund, a rebuke and a warning not to come back. The Williamsburg chain, which has six locations around New York City, posted Goldman’s photo on Instagram and said it does not serve "genocide enablers," then told him, "Don’t ever come to Poetica." The shop also said it refunded his $9.82 purchase and suggested his money was "probably coming from AIPAC."

Goldman said he had stopped in only because his 7-year-old daughter needed the bathroom, and that a barista let her use it even though they had not bought anything. He said he bought a coffee afterward and hoped the shop would make sure she received the tip she deserved. Poetica later deactivated its Instagram account after backlash, and one report said the cafe had received death threats before the account was deleted.

The episode lands at the fault line of two increasingly combustible pressures in New York politics: the Israel debate and the shrinking idea of neutral public space. Goldman, a Jewish Democrat representing New York’s 10th Congressional District, supports Israel’s existence, but he has also sharply criticized the Israeli government and the Gaza war. In August 2025, he said the crisis in Gaza "shocks the conscience," called it a "humanitarian catastrophe," and pressed for international pressure to end the war and release hostages.

It also came during a competitive June 2026 Democratic primary, where Goldman faced former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who has run to Goldman’s left on Israel, criticized Goldman’s support for Biden-era Gaza policy and pledged to deny further military aid to Israel. That political fight has spilled beyond debates and television into storefronts, where small businesses are increasingly asked to act as explicit political actors rather than shared civic spaces.

The confrontation drew criticism from Jewish and civil-rights voices who saw Poetica’s language as discriminatory and as echoing antisemitic tropes tied to AIPAC and Jewish public officials. It also followed broader New York City tensions over Israel, including anti-Israel protests and vandalism at an Israeli restaurant, underscoring how a coffee counter in Williamsburg became another front in a larger struggle over who gets to belong in public life.