New York lawmaker says it’s ‘sad’ that a cafe banned him over his pro-Israel views

Representative Dan Goldman stands as he monitors federal immigration officers at the US immigration court in New York City on 23 October 2025. Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters View image in fullscreen Representative Dan Goldman stands as he monitors federal immigration officers at the US immigration court in New York City on 23 October 2025. Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters New York lawmaker says it’s ‘sad’ that a cafe banned him over his pro-Israel views Poetica Coffee in Brooklyn now faces DoJ investigation after sharing post criticizing Democrat Dan Goldman New York Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman has said it is “sad” that a Brooklyn coffee shop banned him over his views on Israel – a move which has put the cafe under investigation by the Trump administration’s justice department. Goldman represents New York’s 10th congressional district and holds pro-Israel views. He made the “sad” remark to CNN after Brooklyn’s Poetica Coffee banned him in a viral, since-deleted social media post after a visit from him on Sunday. The cafe later refunded his coffee purchase – but it did not stop assistant attorney general Harmeet Dhillon of the US justice department’s civil rights division to announce on X that her office was investigating Poetica Coffee. Goldman has since replied that he would rather Dhillon’s office spent its “time and resources investigating antisemitism against people who do not have a platform that I do, who are not elected officials, who do not – in some ways – ask for this”. “I mean, I don’t ask for the antisemitism, but I’m a public figure and I can accept the criticism,” Goldman said. The controversy centering on Goldman brewed after the since-deleted Instagram post from Poetica Coffee showed him looking at his phone while standing at the cashier. “We see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee,” Poetica Coffee wrote . “Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference? “See, here at Poetica, we don’t serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers, or anyone in between. Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away. We issued you a refund – we don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways),” the post continued, referring to the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. Referring to a Democratic congressional primary in which Goldman is running against former New York City comptroller Brad Lander, the post continued: “Enjoy your loss on Tuesday. Don’t ever come to Poetica.” Lander, notably, has been critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, calling it genocide and saying he will not accept funding from Aipac. While speaking to CNN on Monday, Goldman, a Levi Strauss heir with a reported net worth of approximately $253m, said: “I had such a nice interaction with the barista in the coffee shop. 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 bathroo