Utah investigating bar run by failed mayoral candidate for implementing ‘no Zionists allowed’ policy

A Utah bar has implemented a “No Zionists allowed” policy, and is being investigated for alleged discrimination.

Failed Salt Lake City mayoral candidate and bar owner Michael Valentine announced the new policy for his newly opened bar on social media over the weekend — claiming the pro-Israel belief is hate speech akin to “neo-Nazis.”

“As many are, we are horrified by the ongoing genocide in Gaza and are even more horrified to see so many Americans ignore and rationalize ethnic cleansing,” he posted on the Instagram page for the Weathered Waves bar on Sunday.

“That is why we are pleased to announce we are banning all Zionists forever from our establishments,” wrote Valentine, who also owns the local Six Sailor Cider group.

“Zionism is hate speech. It is white supremacy and has nothing to do with the beautiful Jewish faith.”

In the days since Valentine made the incendiary post, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services received “several comments from members of the public” and requested that the state Attorney General’s Office investigate whether the bar is violating anti-discrimination laws, a spokesperson for the agency told the Salt Lake Tribune.

The department is also reviewing its own legal options, after just granting the Weathered Waves bar its liquor license last Thursday, the spokesman said.

Jewish Utahns claim the new policy is just thinly veiled antisemitism.

“I think it is a smoke screen for open Jew hatred,” Rabbi Avremi Zippel, of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, told KUTV.

He argued that there is no way for bar staff to distinguish between Zionists and Jews.

“When someone comes into your place of business to order food or beverage, how are you able to ascertain what their political ideologies are?” he asked the Tribune.

“Zionism is a political ideology. It’s a philosophy. How exactly is a place of business supposed to determine who is and who is not a Zionist.”

His conclusion, he 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 United Jewish Federation of Utah also condemned the “biased policy,” and said it had reached out to local, state and federal leaders to investigate the watering hole, ABC 4 reports.

It said the policy applies a “double standard to Israel” and the Jewish community, and could lead to the acceptance of discrimination and violence.

But amid the backlash, Valentine says he is the one being targeted.

He claimed the bar has received an arson threat and is the victim of “review bombing,” he told the Tribune.

Valentine has also denied that his new policy is antisemitic, writing in a follow-up Instagram post: “For the record, we are banning Zionists, not Jews. The exact same way we ban neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and not Christians.” 

“Being religious is not an excuse or open license for racism, hate speech, and xenophobia. [We] have zero tolerance for it and won’t abide,” he wrote.

He claimed the policy is necessary to foster an inclusive environment, telling the Tribune how the bar is decorated with trans flags and Palestinian flags.

“I’m against hate speech of all kinds — against trans people, against queer people, against Palestinians, against Jews,” he insisted.

“I don’t perceive how this could be seen as discriminatory,” he added to KUTV.

“We’re advocating for an inclusive environment by rejecting hate speech, which is quite the opposite of discrimination.”

The Post has reached out to Valentine and the Utah Attorney General’s Office for comment.