A neighborhood cafe should be a refuge from the world — including politics.

Sure, some people like to talk politics around a soy latte, but everyone else should be able to walk in, order a coffee, and get on with their morning without being asked to take a position on the Middle East, the police or immigration.

Lately, however, cafes across California seem to think they are party headquarters in service of some cause or another.

Whether it’s “Abolish ICE” stickers in windows, or Palestinian flags above doorways, some cafes have decided to brew protest along with espresso.

In Berkeley, Nabalom Bakery & Pizzeria famously put its politics on display along with its baked goods — and then blamed the backlash when the business shut down.

Nabalom took an anti-Israel stance; it also featured a “Defund the Police” mural. Sales fell, the bakery said, after Instagram removed the bakery’s account after it reposted an anti-ICE image.

The bakery also said it faced a separate boycott over its opposition to upzoning in the area, which the owners felt would change the character of the neighborhood.

It ended badly. Nabolom closed Sunday, Oct. 18, after decades of serving Berkeley’s Elmwood neighborhood. 

No one can honestly say a poster alone closed Nabolom. The owners described a business under pressure from several directions. But the bakery’s story makes one thing plain: If a business makes its politics part of the customer experience, it cannot demand that customers pretend not to notice.

Sometimes the customers are the problem — or, rather, activists who interfere with other customers by organizing boycotts. Boycotts mean that even when cafes try to stay politically neutral, they may be targeted because of the race, religion or nationality of their owners. That’s especially true when the owners are Israeli, or Jewish.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement began in 2005 and has tried to isolate Israel by targeting those that have ties to the Jewish state. (Notably, BDS does not target Palestinian businesses, even though Palestinians are at least co-equal contributors to the Middle East conflict.)

Local activists have gone further, circulating lists of businesses labeled “Zionist-owned,” urging boycotts and, in some cases, vandalizing Jewish-owned shops. The ADL has documented these campaigns, which take place online as well as at the businesses themselves.

But boycotts cut both ways: If the anti-Israel side deliberately targets “Zionist-owned” cafes, then anti-Israel cafes should not be surprised when customers stay away.

Most customers would probably prefer a coffee “ceasefire.” If you want to “abolish ICE” with your coffee, just drink it hot. Hold the ice. We do not need to import every argument into the neighborhood coffee run. Nor do we want to lose the good food and drink served by cafes with politics different from our own.

Nabolom’s closure is a loss for people who loved its pastries and pizza, regardless of politics and foreign policy. One longtime patron shared a photo of the bakery’s final two food items, which she called “incredible pumpkin-walnut muffins.”

The image is a fitting farewell, and a reminder that a neighborhood’s affection is not a blank check. A business may take a stand and its customers may decide that stand is not for them. They do not owe the owner their money or their approval.

A cafe is free to put up a poster; a customer is free to turn around. That is not oppression; that is the marketplace doing what it does.

Boycotts are another matter. They can be scary for business owners, and irritating to other customers. Sometimes, they may be unlawful.

Regardless, they are taking a toll on California’s rich cafe tradition.

Your neighborhood cafe doesn’t need a political manifesto on the menu. It needs good coffee, fresh buns and a welcome that does not require ideological conformity.

Adelle Nazarian is a journalist, entrepreneur and commentator covering politics, culture and technology.

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