A few weeks ago, I posted how terror-supporting bakery Reems had been named one of Food & Wine’s 2018 Restaurants of the Year. Others joined in with me in expressing their dismay and disgust over the decision, and I assume word got back to the folks at Food & Wine.
No, they did not withdraw the award. They doubled down.
Reem’s is a place meant to build bridges, not burn them.
When Restaurant Editor Jordana Rothman returned to the office after a months-long scouting trip for Restaurants of the Year, one of the dishes she raved about the most was the savory mu’ajinaat pastries at Reem’s in Oakland, California. She described the sunny vibe of the bakery by the Fruitvale BART Station and owner Reem Assil’s heightened focus on community. Rothman also discussed with our editorial team the controversial mural of Rasmea Odeh painted on one of the bakery’s walls.
Odeh was convicted in 1970 in an Israeli military court for her role in a supermarket bombing that killed two civilians and the attempted bombing of the British Consulate. She was released from prison in 1979 as part of a prisoner exchange. Her supporters argue that her conviction was the result of coercion. Last year, after a three-year legal battle, Odeh was deported from the United States for making false statements about her imprisonment on her naturalization application.
Much has already been written about Odeh and about the mural at Reem’s. Assil, who grew up in a Syrian-Palestinian family in Sudbury, Massachusetts, publicly defended the work last year in a talk with Real Food Real Stories.
In the course of her reporting with Assil, Rothman says she encountered a proud and thoughtful business owner, looking to express and share her identity as an Arab-American woman. “I wanted to cultivate understanding in the most humane way possible—through food,” Assil told Rothman in Food & Wine last month. “I look around my restaurant on a Saturday afternoon. I see Jews and Arabs eating together. I see people who are not politicized just enjoying a meal. And I think, this is what peace looks like.”
Ultimately, the mural is a polarizing distraction from the larger point, especially now in our charged political climate. To dismiss Assil and Reem’s based on the portrait of a divisive figure rendered in paint is to deny the full impact of the restaurant, its role in the Oakland community, and its place in a global social and political conversation. We recognize Reem’s because we see intrinsic value in widening our readers’ understanding of the foodways of the Middle East and expanding the chorus of voices we empower to tell that story.
In other words, Reem’s is a place meant to build bridges, not burn them. That’s why Reem’s is a Restaurant of the Year.
No, Food & Wine. The mural is not a mere “polarizing distraction” and Odeh is not merely a “divisive figure.” She truly is the murderer of two innocent people. The implication this may not be true and is only the result of a coerced confession is as offensive as it is wrong.
What’s more, Odeh is unrepentant, and still desiring the destruction of the state of Israel.
Would Food & Wine dare award a prize to a restaurant with a mural of another murderer, say Pol Pot? I highly doubt they even would award a prize to a restaurant with a mural of Donald Trump!
Reems owner Reem Assil does not only glorify a terrorist, but continues to spread hate against Israel. Those protesting the mural have been attacked, both physically, but also with lies.
No, Food & Wine. Reems certainly does not build bridges. It promotes terrorism, hatred and divisiveness. And by rewarding them, you are acting as an enabler.
