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Fox News reports that an Israeli-owned restaurant chain in Washington, D.C., has permanently shut down after years of protests and boycotts led by pro-Palestinian activists.

Shouk, a popular plant-based kosher street-food chain once featured by The Washington Post and Food Network for its signature “Shouk Burger,” closed its final two locations this month. The company cited financial strain following a coordinated two-year campaign by anti-Israel activists accusing the business of “cultural appropriation” and complicity in “Israeli apartheid.”

DC for Palestine, a local activist group, led the boycott effort and celebrated the closures online, calling it a “BDS win.” In an Instagram post, the group wrote: “Much of what they served was Palestinian food that they culturally appropriated as ‘Israeli street food.’ TODAY WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT, AS OF OCTOBER 1, 2025, SHOUK HAS CLOSED ITS DOORS, PERMANENTLY.”

Co-owner Dennis Friedman, a Jewish American who founded Shouk more than a decade ago with Israeli partner Ran Nussbacher, rejected the accusations. “I don’t agree with that because the intention of Shouk was pure and good,” Friedman told Fox News Digital. “We wanted to make plant-based food that reminded my partner of his childhood and home. That’s why Shouk is written in both Arabic and Hebrew - because we are a place to bring everyone together.”

Friedman said that before the October 7th massacre, business was thriving. But after the war began, organized demonstrations outside their Georgetown and Rockville locations - which he described as “scary and unnerving” - caused sales to plummet. “We had everything, even little children coming into the store during a busy lunch screaming ‘Free Palestine’ while their parents videoed for social media,” he recalled. “There were posters of dead baby Palestinian children on the windows or on our seating outside.”

He said the chain hired private security and appealed to local authorities for help, but vandalism and intimidation persisted. “It was a very coordinated effort by the BDS movement to hurt Shouk,” Friedman said, adding that his team tried to protect employees and keep operations running as long as possible.

Despite the controversy, Friedman reflected on Shouk’s 12-year legacy with pride. “Most of our staff have been with us since we opened,” he said. “Our turnover was very low because we ran the company ethically and fairly. Our staff became part of our family.”

Shouk closed its final stores just days before Israel and Hamas reached a temporary cease-fire agreement. DC for Palestine has urged supporters to continue boycotting U.S. businesses that import or sell Israeli products.