Lead
For the sixth consecutive Saturday, haredi (ultra-Orthodox) demonstrators gathered outside Basimta Café in central Jerusalem to protest its decision to operate on Shabbat, as counter-protesters and politicians converged in support of the business. Dozens of police officers were deployed at the scene, according to reporting from the Jerusalem Post.
The café has become a focal point of struggle over the operation of businesses on Shabbat in Jerusalem, with demonstrations and counter-demonstrations on successive weekends.
Coverage
Reporting by the Jerusalem Post covers two consecutive Saturdays of protest outside the café, with the most recent taking place on August 8, 2026. In an earlier account published on August 1, the Post described the fifth consecutive week of demonstrations, and the sixth on the later date.
The protest movement began after the café's owners decided to keep the business open on Shabbat, a move that has drawn repeated confrontations between demonstrators and café supporters in recent weeks.
Play-by-play
On the sixth Saturday, counter-protesters included several political figures who joined the crowds outside the café. Customers and local residents gathered to support the business, while protesters demonstrated against its Shabbat operation.
In previous weeks' demonstrations, several protesters were reported to have banged on the café's windows, with customers inside responding by shouting "Enlist, enlist," as described by an outside reporter cited in the Post. Some protesters reportedly broke through police barriers and attempted to approach the café's entrance, climbing fences to try to get closer. An item stated that a bag containing feces had been thrown at the café during a prior week's protest.
Politicians weigh in
Democratic Party chairman Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yair Golan, Democrats Party CEO Omer Lubaton-Granot, and MK Meirav Cohen participated in the counter-protest, attended on both days, the Post reported. Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman also joined the counter-demonstration to express support.
Liberman, who attended the earlier protest, said: "I believe above all live and let live. Drinking coffee on a Saturday morning cannot become an act of civic courage." Referring to the protesters, he added, "The vandalism we see behind me only proves that these guys need to direct their energy against Hamas."
Cohen addressed the café's struggle on social media, describing her meeting with owner Yoel Ben David. "When he opened the place on Shabbat, emissaries came to him and offered him money so that he would close," she wrote. "He said no thank you, and from that moment he has been subjected to demonstrations Outside his café every Shabbat." She said they came to "strengthen him and thank him for his steadfastness in the name of the values of freedom and liberalism." Jerusalem belongs to everybody, Israel to everybody, and besides that, the coffee is very good."
Ben David, for his part, remarked about harmony between Jewish religious and secular communities, and has received support from the religious community, by the Jerusalem Post.