An ad hoc group of supporters of Ali’s Cookies in Emory Village have raised more than $18,000 in a GoFundMe account to support the bakery, which has suffered a loss of business and antisemitic threats since Israel was attacked by Hamas five months ago.
Ali’s Cookies owners Nofar and Sagi Shabilis said the store has received online and in-person anti-Israel and antisemitic abuse since the Oct. 7 war began.
Sandy Springs resident Sherwin Krug said he started the fundraising campaign to assist Ali’s Cookies owners after he read about and visited the bakery.
“I saw a young couple trying to sell cookies and make a living in a state of despair after their business was targeted,” Krug said. “Their sales had tanked due to a boycott” which the owners said started after they displayed an Israeli flag in support of their native country. The Shablis’ moved from Israel to Atlanta in 2021.
Nofar Shablis has witnessed potential customers enter the bakery and leave upon seeing the Israeli flag, watched customers drape Palestinian flags on their tables and place stickers alleging genocide by Israel. She received a phone call threatening to burn down the bakery with everyone in it.
In late February, the store received an antisemitic postcard with drawing of Anne Frank, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust, with a speech bubble that read, “So much fun!”
Shablis said she reported all the hate messages to the police and she and her husband mounted a camera inside the bakery.
“We are being more careful now,” she said, noting that they have two young children. “It’s scary and terrifying but we’re fighting back.”
The support they have received from both the Jewish community as well as the wider Atlanta community “has been like a light in the darkness. There are so many good people and the support is really helping us.”
Still, sales have not returned to where they were…
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