A Pittsburgh restaurant which caused a stir by printing what critics called “anti-Israel messages” on its food wrappers has closed after receiving death threats.

According to its mission statement Conflict Kitchen, in the collegiate Oakland neighbourhood, “only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict” and “rotates identities every few months in relation to current geopolitical events”. Run by Jon Rubin, an artist, it had been serving Palestinian food and hosting events, discussions and performances since 6 October.

On Friday a statement posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page said: “We have received a letter today containing death threats and we will be closed until the credibility of the letter can be established by the Pittsburgh police. We hope to reopen shortly.”

By Sunday, Pittsburgh police had not commented on the validity or otherwise of the threat, which was reported to have been sent to them rather than to the restaurant.

Earlier in the week the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that conservative and pro-Israel groups were questioning the propriety of a $50,000 grant to the restaurant from Heinz Endowments, made in 2013. Heinz Endowments, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, is chaired by Teresa Heinz Kerry. Heinz Kerry is the wife of US secretary of state John Kerry, who has led attempts to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian territories.



This weekend has seen renewed violence between Israelis and Palestinians, after police shot a 22-year-old man dead in Galilee.

The Post-Gazette reported that a senior figure at the Heinz Endowments had said Heinz Kerry was not aware of the grant to Conflict Kitchen, which was among $70m of such grants handed out each year.

However, in answer to a call from the Jewish service organisation B’nai B’rith International to issue a “public disavowal”, Heinz Endowments president Grant Oliphant wrote: “I want to be especially clear that [Conflict Kitchen’s] current programme on Palestine was not funded by the endowments and we would not fund such a programme, precisely because it appears to be terribly at odds with the mission of promoting understanding.



“[Heinz Endowments] emphatically does not agree with or support either the anti-Israel sentiments quoted on Conflict Kitchen’s food wrappers or the programme’s refusal to incorporate Israeli or Jewish voices in its material.”

On Saturday, Conflict Kitchen released a statement about the food wrappers. It read: “The Post-Gazette’s (and other media and lobbying groups) insistence to continually misrepresent our food wrappers as ‘anti-Israeli messages’ shows a distinct lack of research into what is actually on the wrappers, a reinforcement of right-wing accusations, and thoughtlessness about our current situation.

“Like we have done for four years with every other country of focus, our food wrappers contain the viewpoints of multiple people within our focus country on a wide variety of topics. Our Palestinian interviews are no different.”

The wrapper for carry-out orders, which is available online as a PDF, carries text in sections headed “food”, “settlements”, “resistance”, “marriage/dating”, “religion in daily life”, “the Palestinian Authority”, “movement & travel”, “food customs”, “Nakba” and “olive trees”.

The “settlements” section of the wrapper includes the following: “The Israeli settlements in the West Bank perform three key functions. The first is territorial; it’s about fragmenting and isolating Palestinian communities. The second is to control the distribution of resources. Water, land and government services are taken away from Palestinians and given to Jewish settlers.

“The third is surveillance. In the Occupied Territories, all the settlements are on hills; this gives them a military advantage and lets the settlers watch the Palestinians. If Palestinians cross boundaries to harvest olives, the settlers can see this and attack them.”

On Saturday, the restaurant’s statement added: “The interviews were done by us personally with Palestinians in Palestine, and in our own city. The thoughts and opinions that come through the interviews are informed by their personal context, experiences and histories as Palestinians.

“Perhaps it is hard for some people to hear that Palestinians are not happy with Israeli policies or the actions of some of its citizens, but to cast their viewpoints as simply anti-Israel is to reinforce the simplest, most polarizing, and dehumanizing reading of their lives and perpetuate the silencing of their voices.”