Salt Lake City bar’s ‘No Zionists’ policy prompts dozens of complaints to Utah liquor agency

More than 70 people have reached out to state alcohol officials to complain about a new Salt Lake City bar’s announcement that it has a “No Zionists Allowed” policy.

A commission of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services awarded Weathered Waves its bar license on Feb. 29. Since bar owner Michael Valentine’s March 4 post announcing the ban on Instagram, the department has received 71 emails and an unspecified number of phone calls from people “voicing concerns” about it, said DABS spokesperson Michelle Schmitt.

All the emailed complaints to DABS were “from people concerned the business owner is wrongfully discriminating,” Schmitt said — while all but one of the phone calls made to DABS reflected the same sentiment. The sole other caller, Schmitt said, supported the bar’s freedom of speech.

The department on Wednesday asked Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes to investigate. Reyes’ office will not discuss its response; a spokesperson declined to comment Friday. DABS also has said it is “reviewing its statutory obligations and legal options for responding to discrimination.”

Salt Lake City is doing a similar review, said Andrew Wittenberg, spokesperson for Mayor Erin Mendenhall. He said the city understands the post has been “referred to the federal government” as well as DABS, for review under federal and state antidiscrimination laws.

“Salt Lake City strongly condemns discriminatory speech or rhetoric in any way,” Wittenberg said. “While we are aware of the situation, and have indeed received complaints, we are still in the process of determining what, if any, actions are available to us in this matter.”

‘Nothing to do with the beautiful Jewish faith’

Weathered Waves, at 158 S. Rio Grande St., is part of the Six Sailor Cider group, and specializes in locally brewed hard ciders. Valentine, who owns Six Sailor Cider and unsuccessfully ran for Salt Lake City mayor last year as a first-time candidate, ignited a social media firestorm after he announced the ban, thrusting himself and his business into the complex and tense debate over the latest Israel-Hamas war.

The war began after a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 that left an estimated 1,200 Israelis dead and about 240 taken hostage. More than 100 hostages were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire, The Associated Press reported. The Gaza Health Ministry reported Wednesday that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict.

Since Oct. 7, The New York Times has reported, debate has intensified around whether anti-Zionism is by definition antisemitism. The Salt Lake City bar’s ban has been reported on nationally and internationally, in outlets including The Daily Beast and The Times of Israel.

Federal civil rights laws prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. After his initial post, Valentine wrote in a follow-up Instagram post that he distinguishes between Judaism and Zionism, which he considers “hate speech” and “white supremacy.” He said his aim is to ban all hate speech, and that, to him, Zionism “has nothing to do with the beautiful Jewish faith.”

Rabbi Avremi Zippel, of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, questioned how the bar will ascertain patrons’ “political ideologies” — something Valentine’s posts have not addressed. His own conclusion, Zippel said, is that “the emptiness of the policy and the inability to enforce that policy without openly discriminating against the religion shows what the real motivation behind that is.”

The Louis D. Brandeis Center and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education are making a similar argument in suing University of California Berkeley, objecting to law school student groups that have adopted bylaws refusing to invite speakers who support Zionism.

The groups argue in their 2023 lawsuit that it has “become commonplace among persons seeking to disguise their antisemitism to use the word ‘Zionists’ to mean Jews.” For most Jews, they add, “Zionism is as integral to Judaism as observing the Jewish Sabbath or maintaining a kosher diet.”

Their definition of “anti-Zionism” is “discrimination against those who recognize the Jews’ ancestral heritage — in particular the Jews’ historic connection to the land of Israel and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland — as key components of their Jewish identity.”

In a February request that a judge dismiss the suit, attorneys for University of California Berkeley note that it “swiftly denounced the policies, expressed support for Jewish students, and explained that the university would not incorporate the bylaws into its own curricular standards.”

But the students’ policies are not illegal discrimination — they are instead “quintessential First Amendment-protected speech,” the university argues. “Consistent with long-established constitutional principles, the university did not discipline the student organizations for their political speech.”

Split reactions

Deja Gaston, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation Salt Lake, said she is glad Valentine and the bar are standing with others who have been calling attention to what they consider genocide in Gaza. Her group has held local protests in support of Palestine.

She agrees that Zionism is a political ideology and argues that it has historically been used to “justify the colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”

“There are many anti-Zionist Jewish people who support the small business,” Gaston said. “There are Arabs, there are Muslims, Palestinians, and people from all different backgrounds who are also defending Palestine, who also stand in solidarity with a statement this bar owner made.”

Liz Paige, associate director of the United Jewish Federation of Utah, described Valentine’s post as a ban on members of the Jewish community based on “national, ethnic and ideological lines.” The organization has reported the ban to city, state and federal levels of government, she added, though she did not specify which agencies or officials.

“We’re alarmed by the escalation of events in Utah that have normalized hate speech, exclusion, and intimidation of the Jewish community in Utah,” Paige said. “In our reports, we’ve made it clear that denying service to any person — based on perceived national origin, religion or belief — violates, in our minds, civil rights laws at all levels.”

Schmitt, with DABS, pointed to a document on the agency’s website that lists violations for which businesses can be penalized. The most grave violations — for which a license could be revoked on the first offense — include selling booze to an intoxicated person, gambling or lewd acts on the premises, signing exclusive deals with a particular brand of alcohol, or refusing to allow law enforcement or DABS to inspect a licensee. Banning certain patrons is not mentioned.

A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said the group would not comment on “an open investigation.”