Female Israeli restaurateur seeks community support amid threats and boycotts making it hard to remain open

Ofra Sixto, a single Israeli mother who often works alone, says that death threats and calls from anti-Israel activists to have her Vancouver restaurant boycotted are hurting her business but won’t scare her away from standing in solidarity with her people.

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A female Israeli small business owner says that antisemitic attacks targeting her business are getting so bad she may have no other choice but to close her restaurant doors.

Rebel News first brought you an interview with Ofra Sixto, the owner of Ofra’s Kitchen in Vancouver, after hoisting an Israeli flag in her restaurant window was followed by what she called constant hate.

Unable to travel back home to be with family after the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Ofra decided to put up the flag as well as posters of some of the hostages who had been kidnapped by Hamas and taken into Gaza.

Unfortunately, the hate Ofra, a single mother who often works alone receives, has reached an even more sinister level. On Friday, Rebel News captured some of that hate, which included threats of harm, anti-Israel protesters screaming at her while driving by in a “Pro-Palestine” convoy, and calls to boycott her restaurant, which she says are resulting in a tremendous decrease in her regular customers.

“We will make your life hell, you daughter of a whore,” one threatening email sent to Ofra this week reads. The email continues by warning Ofra to stay out of her restaurant because “we’re burning it whether you are inside or not.”

Ofra also receives threatening phone calls from private numbers several times a day. While interviewing Ofra to bring you this report, Rebel News was able to capture a few of those calls as well as a Vancouver police officer who was inside her restaurant cautioning the caller to stop the harassment.

“Even though the Jewish community is stepping up and helping, it’s not enough,” Ofra tells Rebel News. In addition to the boycott calls, Ofra is one of an estimated 200,000 small businesses at risk for going out of business because they can’t afford to pay back the government for a Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan, which was taken to help their businesses survive during COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

Some “Pro-Palestine” activists online have excused some of the hate Ofra has received, often citing a video Ofra posted to her Facebook, which included her stating, “Maybe not every Palestinian is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Palestinian.”

In a statement to Rebel News, Ofra said a small portion of her video has been circulating to frame her as supporting murdering babies. Instead Ofra says the video was mainly to call for her people to be proud of being Jewish, to call for the “destruction of Hamas, and other terrorists but never the innocent,” and to express her belief that "children are being indoctrinated, taught and pushed to hate Jews and the state of Israel.”

“Your voice should be heard without your business being hurt,” Ofra tells Rebel News.

After some encouragement from her son to do so, Ofra has started a GoFundMe to crowdfund for the loss in customer flow, repayment of the CEBA loan, and to hire an employee as she often works alone.

Click on the full video report to watch the type of hate Ofra receives nearly daily. And if you value free speech but believe that any non-Canadian citizens who advocate for terrorism should be deported, you can sign and share our petition at DeportHamas.com.

Canada British Columbia Deport Hamas News Analysis
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