By Scott Etkin
Signage went up recently on the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 106th Street for Hinds Hall, a Palestinian restaurant named after Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old girl who was killed along with her family in Gaza.
The restaurant is one of a chain of popular Palestinian eateries, including Ayat Astoria and Ayat East Village, owned by restaurateur Abdul Elenani. “We are naming this restaurant Ayat Hinds Hall so her name continues to be spoken,” Elenani wrote on Instagram. “Because no matter what business you are in, there should always be a deeper purpose behind it.”
Elenani announced last summer that Ayat would open a restaurant near the Columbia campus; in an interview at that time, he told West Side Rag that his goal for his restaurants has always been “bringing people together” regardless of their faith.
Seeing Jewish and Muslim guests sharing the Ayat space, Elenani said, “brings me peace and makes me happy.”
The new restaurant is located 10 blocks south of Columbia University, in the space formerly occupied by the longtime pizzeria Mama’s, which closed last May. The name “Hinds Hall” was inspired by the death of Hind Rajab, a kindergartener who, along with family members, was trying to escape Gaza City in January 2024 when an Israeli tank is alleged to have opened fire on their Kia. In a widely reported recording, she was heard pleading with emergency dispatchers on the telephone to help her: “I’m so scared, please come. Come take me. Please, will you come?” Although the Israeli military denied the attack, an investigation by The Washington Post contradicted the claim that there were no Israeli troops in the area.
Several months later, in April 2024, Columbia students occupied the university’s Hamilton Hall and dangled a sheet out the window, proclaiming it Hind’s Hall after Rajab, who had become a symbol of the Palestinian cause. Elenani said he recognizes that his political stance courts controversy, and when he announced plans to open a restaurant on the UWS last summer, he told the Rag that, in order to avoid harassment, he would not publicize the exact location until it was ready to open.
On Ayat’s Instagram page, he recently added that naming the restaurant after Hind Rajab is not about politics, but, rather, about remembering a child who did not deserve to die. “Will never back down when it comes down to HUMANITY,” he wrote.
In January 2024, Elenani hosted a free Shabbat dinner and religious service at an Ayat location in Ditmas Park for more than 1,300 people. He said he hopes to host Shabbat dinners at the new restaurant.
No opening date has been announced for Ayat Hinds Hall, but the restaurant’s website says it is “coming soon.”
To read the Rag’s interview with Elenani, click HERE.
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