US Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in Lower Manhattan on Oct. 22, 2025. Photo: Cristina Matuozzi/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced that it opened an investigation into a Brooklyn coffee shop that publicly condemned Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) over his support for Israel and declared that it should have refused him service.

The café, Poetica Coffee, issued a public statement mocking Goldman after he purchased a coffee with his young daughter, refunded his purchase, accused him of enabling “genocide,” and told him never to return.

Goldman replied, saying that the coffee shop barista “couldn’t have been nicer.”

Federal officials have since opened a civil rights investigation into whether the business violated anti-discrimination laws governing public accommodations.

“Federal law prohibits public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on their race, religion, or national origin. These actions are not only reprehensible, they’re potentially illegal,” Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, posted on X. “The Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation, and will bring an enforcement action if warranted.”

Goldman lamented the coffee shop’s condemnation during an interview with CNN, saying that “we need to be better than this” and that any notion that he supports a so-called genocide in Gaza is “crazy.” He stressed that although he disapproves of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli premier is “not synonymous with the country and state of Israel.”

“I had such a nice interaction with the barista in the coffee shop,” Goldman said. “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 bathroom. And I honestly was so grateful for her kindness that I felt like I should buy a coffee, and so I did, and I gave her a large tip.”

While Goldman condemned the incident as troubling, his Democratic primary opponent in New York’s 10th Congressional District, Brad Lander, has spent the past few months publicly lambasting the Israeli government and accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide.”

Since launching his primary campaign, Lander has increasingly aligned himself with some of the Democratic Party’s most outspoken critics of Israel.

Perhaps most striking, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has uncovered a late May appearance at a Queens mosque in which Lander recited a verse from the Quran and told attendees that he hoped to partner in Congress with Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two lawmakers who have become leading congressional voices accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide” while repeatedly advocating for restrictions on US military support to the Jewish state.

#ICYMI: NY Democratic Congressional Candidate Brad Lander Recites Quran Verse At Queens Mosque, Says He Hopes To Partner In Congress With Reps. Ilhan Omar And Rashida Tlaib; Imam Prays For Mahdi To Kill Infidels With His Sword pic.twitter.com/tYG02lc2nj

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 22, 2026

Lander and Goldman are both Jewish.

Support for Israel has become somewhat of a political litmus test in progressive spaces and, increasingly, in Democratic primaries, with Democrats becoming more critical of the US-Israel alliance.

Jewish politicians specifically are increasingly expected to adopt aggressively critical stances against Israel and oftentimes face severe repudiation or discrimination for not endorsing unfounded accusations of “genocide” against the Jewish state or not disavowing Zionism.

That concern has become increasingly prominent as anti-Zionist activism has spread through parts of progressive politics following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza.

Lander’s own political trajectory has fueled such concerns. Although he has described himself as Jewish and progressive, the politician has sharply criticized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and sought common political ground with figures such as Omar and Tlaib, whose positions on Israel have generated repeated controversy.

Lander stresses that he continues to support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. However, skeptics suggest that his willingness to cede ground on unfounded accusations of genocide indicates that he might cede ground on backing Israel’s right to defend itself.

Polls show that Lander holds a commanding lead over Goldman, the incumbent. A June Emerson College Poll shows that 57 percent of constituents plan on voting for Lander, compared to only 23 percent who plan on supporting Goldman.

Some observers speculate that the race is part of a national trend which suggests support for Israel has become increasingly untenable in deep-blue districts.