All of NYC helped when my pro-Hamas staff quit Caffe Aronne

This week, Aaron Dahan, the owner of Caffe Arrone on the Upper East Side, lost his entire staff, who quit over his support of Israel. Instead of shutting down, they were kept alive by volunteers from the community, and as the story went viral, customers from around the world. Here, Dahan tells his story to The Post’s Kirsten Fleming.

I’m a cafe owner with some jobs to fill. All of my employees quit this week, not overpaying or benefits, but over our store’s support of Israel.

It’s been a very difficult and frustrating week, but the darkness has ultimately revealed that people are good and decent.

And community is everything.

I started my catering business five years ago and expanded with Caffe Aronne in the West Village and then on the Upper East Side.

I’ve always been drawn to coffee because it unites people. And that sentiment extended to the Caffe Aronne family.

I was close to my employees, who all brought their own experiences and viewpoints. They are phenomenal people.

But after the horrific events of October 7, when over 1,400 people were killed by Hamas and 240 more taken hostage, there’s been division brewing here.

My cousin and his girlfriend, who were at the ill-fated music festival, are among the dead.

Initially, they were missing, and I wanted to bring awareness to the hostages.

We put a small Israeli flag next to a larger American flag.

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Follow along with The Post’s coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas

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It was a sign of support – the same way we had put up a Ukraine flag after they were invaded by Russia and a Lebanese flag after a bomb went off in Beirut in 2020.

We started a fundraiser where customers could donate to Magen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross, which is politically neutral and helps Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

Pretty quickly, we had one employee quit after their shift because of that small Israel flag.

In the meantime, I felt like we needed to do more for the hostages, especially after we learned about my cousin and his girlfriend’s grim fate – their bodies were so mutilated, it took eight days to identify them.

So we put up hostage posters in the window – and we weren’t the only business in the neighborhood to do so.

This past Sunday, an employee said, “I’m not coming back. You support genocide. You support apartheid. You of all people should know when a genocide is taking place.”

My first response was to propose a team dinner to educate and help my workers understand some basic facts, like, that Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and there is no occupation.

There is no genocide – Gaza’s population has tripled since then and Israel is a democracy. There is no apartheid. We have 15 Supreme Court judges, one of whom, is an Arab Muslim.

Israel is a refuge. My grandmother was born there in 1941 when it was British Palestine. My grandfather was kicked out of Afghanistan for being Jewish and he found home in a kibbutz there. I studied in Israel. Yes, it’s personal to me – but it is a place that welcomes all – not just Jews.

However, for many, it’s easier to ignorantly throw around buzzwords like apartheid, colonizer, or genocide. And my employees are all smart and college-educated.

That tactic is an insult to their own intelligence.

That staff dinner never happened. But things started to become more contentious. Despite our policy of not talking politics with customers, an employee expressed pro-Hamas sentiment to one.

When he was spoken to by the manager, he texted me that he quit. Another took issue with this company’s “no-politics” policy.

I don’t mind if a barista wants to wear an LGBT pride pin or something religious like a hijab or a Star of David, but we can’t alienate our customers, especially in a place like the Upper East Side, which is a very Jewish neighborhood. And it just snowballed from there. By this past Tuesday, five of my employees whom I considered family, had walked out.

I had to work an event, so my mother and her assistant got behind the counter. A customer noticed that my mother was not dressed like a typical barista and asked what was going on. She explained that all the employees quit over our support of Israel.

That customer put something on social media and the word spread like fire. The owner of the nearby Coffee Inn came here to work and the owner of Matto which is an Israeli franchise with locations nearby came himself, saying “my cups are your cups. My beans are your beans and my workers are your workers.” Friends and friends of friends have all shown up to help.

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Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel

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Then there are the customers – who have come in droves and patiently waited in a line stretching for blocks.

Today, I walked in and there was a gentleman making coffee. I have no idea who he is. A few of our suppliers, including my cup company, have comped our order. The delivery driver from Baldor broke down boxes and disposed of them himself.

In the last few days, I’ve spoken to so many priests and pastors from across the country. We’ve had orders from Sydney, Australia, Alaska, Hawaii, Alabama, and Myrtle Beach, just to name a few.

To see Jews, Gentiles, and secular people all come together to help a small business, has been overwhelming. And I’ve cried many times.

And despite all of the hatred going on around us, I chose to hold up what happened here, at Caffe Aronne as the real story of humanity.

Evil always loses.