Israeli food vendor removed from Philadelphia event due to 'security risk'

"The Taste of Home" event, which takes place on Sunday, Father's Day, is organized to bring awareness to immigrant own businesses across the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

General overall view of the downtown Philadelphia skyline (photo credit: KIRBY LEE-USA TODAY SPORTS)
General overall view of the downtown Philadelphia skyline
(photo credit: KIRBY LEE-USA TODAY SPORTS)
The Philadelphia-based non-profit Eat Up the Borders removed an Israeli vendor from participating in this year's "The Taste of Home" event after it was alerted to protests being planned against the presence of the Israeli vendor.
"The Taste of Home" event, which takes place on Sunday, Father's Day, is organized to bring awareness to immigrant-owned businesses across the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
The event was cancelled right before it was supposed to begin on Sunday morning. Additionally, the Eat Up The Borders Instagram account had been private after comments flooded the page calling them out for antisemitic behavior, according to JTA. 
The food vendor, Moshava Philly, alerted the public to their removal via Instagram.
"We have some unfortunate news to share with all of you," read the post. "We won't be attending "The Taste of Home" event, this Sunday, on Father's Day.
"We are deeply saddened by this," Moshava Philly added. "The organizers of the event heard rumors of a protest happening because of us being there and decided to uninvite us from fear that the protesters would get aggressive and threaten their event."
The food vendor added that it was hoping Eat Up the Borders and their partnered non-profit Sunflower Philly "would step up to the plate and defend local, small and immigrant based businesses, no matter where they are from."
"We really do hope that in the future you don't succumb to such antisemitic and dividing rhetoric and keep true to your words of a safe environment for all religions and nationalities- not just all of them except Israeli and Jewish ones."

Israeli personalities and activists such as Noa Tishby and Hen Mazzig commented on the post showing their support for the Israeli-run business, with Tishby saying, "We got your back" and Mazzig adding "This is so wrong. We’re with you."
Other lesser known commenters were dismayed that the organizers caved-in to the pressure, with some adding it "continues the cycle of antisemitism."
An organizer responded to the criticism, saying that they were looking forward to having Moshava Philly participating in the event and that they never detracted from the event but the amount of hate they got from it was "more than" they "thought was possible."
The organizer added that the uproar and "legitimate threats" forced their hand, saying there was a serious "safety risk."
"Can you imagine if someone threatened an event unless the Asian food truck was expelled?," said the website Israellycool. "Do you think Eat Up The Borders would expel the Asian food truck, or do you think they would either a) cancel the entire event or b) hire security? I think you know the answer."