NPR The Latest to Spread the Lie of “Hospitable” and “Safe” Terror-Supporting Reems Bakery

Remember Reems bakery in California, which made its support of terrorism blatantly obvious with its mural of murderer Rasmea Odeh?

When Reems owner Reem Assil first launched her Kickstarter to help fund it, she stated she wanted to create “a restaurant and home to connect people across cultures & generations through the warmth of Arab bread and hospitality.”

A subsequent New York Times puff piece on the establishment quoted Assil as saying

“In Oakland, I felt we didn’t have enough of those places where people could feel alive and safe and connected.”

Because nothing quite says hospitality, and being alive and safe like the image of a smiling terrorist looking down at you.

Now, years later, and it is NPR’s turn to spread the lie of Reems’ “hospitality”, following the launch of Assil’s cookbook:

KELLY: The whole Part 1 of the book is about Arab hospitality. It’s titled…

ASSIL: Yeah.

KELLY: …”How To Host Like An Arab.”

ASSIL: Yes.

KELLY: Give me a – lay out a couple of the most important principles of that.

ASSIL: Yeah. I mean, the biggest tenet of Arab hospitality is that it’s a virtue. You’re supposed to make anyone who comes into your home, friends and strangers alike, feel like they are at ease and that they are safe and they have a sense of belonging. And I always say Arab hospitality is about abundance, just making folks feel like they’re well taken care of.

ASSIL: Yes, absolutely. I mean, when I created my restaurants, you know, seven years ago, I wanted anybody to walk into Reem’s and feel at home, whether they knew anything about Arab food or not. And I hope that people get that out of this book.

What a sick joke.

Although I will say this, the NPR interviewer does manage to say something that seems to bother Assil:

KELLY: Without wanting to start a war, I will note you write in your book about hummus, the chickpea dip that many Americans will be familiar with and which many Americans believe is Israeli, which it is, but it’s also present in many Arab cultures. Talk to me about how you decided to write about this and what place hummus has in all this.

ASSIL: Well, you know, hummus existed long before the state of Israel was created in 1948, and so there is an intentional omission of Palestinian (laughter). And that invisibilizes (ph) me – you know? – the fact not just that Israeli hummus is the Trader Joe’s hummus, the, you know, the Americanized versions of hummus…

It’s ok, Reem. While humus is no less Israeli than it is palestinian Arab (it likely originated from ancient Egypt), we’ll credit you with Hamas.

And given your love of terrorists, I am sure you take that as a compliment.

Hat tip: Jody

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