S.F. cafe endures worst vandalism to date after ICE protesters descend upon Mission

San Francisco Chronicle​

4 days ago

San Francisco cafe owner Manny Yekutiel was eating dinner at home Monday night when he got an urgent call from a person attending an event at Manny's, his cafe in the Mission District.
'Right now, I am watching someone breaking your windows,' the person told him. 'They are trying to get into space. Should I videotape them, or should I run away?'
Yekutiel told the person to protect themselves, and that he would be there in five minutes. After racing to the cafe, he surveyed the damage: a bashed window near the entrance and graffiti sprayed all over the restaurant's outside walls. After cleaning up the mess, he left and went to sleep.
But in the morning, he woke up to a nightmare.
According to security cameras, a faction of the large group of protesters who descended upon the Mission District to oppose the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles — broke into the cafe just before 10 p.m. and graffitied all around its exterior.
But unlike tags that had targeted ICE and the police, like the ones that were sprayed all over the McDonald's at 24th and Mission streets, the messaging at the corner of 16th and Mission streets seemed to focus specifically on Yekutiel.
The vandals also smashed through a large window to enter the cafe, though it was unclear whether anything was taken.
Among graffiti that read 'Free Palestine' and 'Kill Cops,' there were other, more pointed words for Yekutiel, who is Jewish. The cafe owner, who hosts civic and political events at Manny's has been vocal about his 'complicated' feelings about Israel and wish for a cease-fire in Gaza.
'F— Manny,' one of the tags read. Others said 'Die Zio,' an apparent truncating of the word Zionist, and 'The only good settler is a dead 1.'
'It was like a crime scene,' he said, referring to the inside of the restaurant Tuesday morning. 'Glass everywhere, shattered on the floor. And then I came back here in the back in the dark and was just sobbing.'
In an interview with the Chronicle in the back of his cafe, where on Monday night the private event had continued on despite the break-in attempt, Yekutiel broke down in sobs.
He said he was grateful to Mayor Daniel Lurie, who visited him at the cafe before it opened Tuesday morning. The mayor held his hand and consoled him, Yekutiel said.
In a press briefing Tuesday morning, Lurie spoke generally of the vandalism by protesters, but did not specifically reference Manny's. The mayor's office later declined to comment on the vandalism of Manny's.
'Vandalizing local businesses with hateful language, damaging property is unacceptable,' Lurie said in his briefing. 'When that happens, law enforcement will take action.'
Lurie characterized Monday night's demonstration as 'significantly calmer' than Sunday's despite being 'notably larger.' During the chaotic standoffs between police and protesters that injured two officers Sunday night, more than 150 people were arrested. All but one were cited and released.
Yekutiel said he had not been contacted by Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission District. Fielder's office did not return requests for comment for the Chronicle.
What was all more baffling — and frightening — to Yekutiel was that he had advocated for and attended Monday's protest against ICE, he said.
Over the seven years Manny's has been open, the cafe has been targeted with anti-Israel graffiti numerous times, including last year on the eve of the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Yekutiel, who hosts civic and political events at his cafe, has been vocal about his 'complicated' feelings about Israel. He has also expressed support for a cease-fire.
The vandalism on Monday night, though, was the most extreme the cafe has endured, he said.
'I wish I could sit down with these people and say, 'You got the wrong guy,'' he said. 'But just choosing to attack my business and my windows and say that I should die only affirms the claim, which is true in many ways, that part of this is just a hatred of Jews.'
For years, he said, he has empathized with the people who have vandalized his cafe. 'There's a person that you can undo, that you can defame and boycott and attack if you're feeling rage,' he said, explaining why he believed he was being targeted. 'Even though I'm not Israeli. Even though I don't represent Israel. Even though I haven't done anything that, I believe, deserves that rage.'
Now, it's just anti-Semitism, he said.
Outside the cafe Tuesday morning, two young men crossing the street paused to look at the corner. 'Look, they f— that shit up!' one of them said to the other, as the two laughed and walked on.
Inside the cafe, nearly every seat was occupied by people drinking coffee, working on their laptops or discussing the damages throughout the morning. Two San Francisco Police sergeants came by to interview Yekutiel and a local rabbi stopped by for a coffee. Just before 1 p.m., some of the patrons were jolted by the sound of someone from the street screaming expletives into the cafe.
The back of the cafe was cordoned off as workers worked on the window that had been broken. Sprinklings of glass glimmered on a velvet armchair. For a few minutes, an upbeat song began playing over the speakers, until Yekutiel asked the baristas to turn it down. They were just trying to lighten the mood, they said.
He said the mood didn't need to be light. It wasn't a happy moment, he said, and asked them to turn the music off.