Around 12:45 p.m, a 10-year-old patron of the Holy Land restaurant on College Avenue discovered the words “Holy Land Blood” on a wall near the window, written in red pen.
Employees tried to get rid of it, but it’s still slightly visible, said owner Haya Mizrachi.
“It made me very nervous,” she said.
An Israeli who has lived in the Bay Area for 15 years, Mizrachi said: “I’m not a political woman, I’m not the White House. If these people have problems with politics they should go to the Knesset or Washington. I sell falafel here, that’s it.”
Lt. Cynthia Harris, public information officer for the Berkeley Police Department, said the department would forward the information about the case to the state, which would then determine whether it could be classified as a hate crime.
“This doesn’t necessarily fit the guidelines of a hate crime,” Harris said, “but we’ll send it to them to review it.”
Mizrachi emphasized that while her personal feelings about the matter were irrelevant, she supported peace between Israelis and Palestinians so much that in 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed, she gave away falafel for three days in celebration to anyone, including Arabs, who said they supported the peace process.
All the more reason why she found the graffiti so upsetting. “I feel so bad because I am for peace,” she said. “If I can make peace with falafel, it will be wonderful.”