JCRC Responds to Alexandria Business Owner Who Denied Service to Israeli Customer

The following is a statement from Vicki Fishman Bajefsky, Director of Virginia Government and Community Relations at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.  

“A store owner refusing service to someone based on their ethnicity or religion brings to mind some of the most insidious periods in America’s past. Sadly, that type of hatred and bigotry is still with us in the present.

“Fatana Karimi’s decision to kick a customer out of her Alexandria salon upon learning of her Israeli nationality is a moral stain on her establishment and should be unacceptable to all Virginians. There is no justification whatsoever for this behavior. It is discrimination in its purest form.

“JCRC is ready to sit down with Ms. Karimi to help her understand the pain that her words and actions caused, both to her customer and the local Jewish community. But unless and until she demonstrates true remorse and makes meaningful amends, we urge Virginians to spend their hard-earned dollars elsewhere.”