Swastika Smoothies Sold In London Cafe — What The Hell Is Going On Here

Swastikas adorned cups of “Nutzy” in a London cafe. The soup is a vegan concoction made with almond milk, vegan protein, banana, honey and other ingredients.

Fortunately, London’s Nin Com Soup removed the products from its shelves after complaints were made. Unfortunately, “Nutzy” returned to the shelves later on, but without the swastika.

In another incident, swastikas were drawn with frosting to decorate cupcakes at a birthday party for a Jewish girl in Arizona.

What the hell is going on here? As incidents of Antisemitism are on the rise in America after Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States and the racist alt-right movement seems to be growing, Jews there have had good reason to be concerned lately. But London? Could people there really be that clueless? Is this a sign of the world starting to forget the evils of the past with people not even understanding that a swastika is the most reprehensible symbol of hate and racism in world history?

England’s Campaign Against Antisemitism reported on the story. One woman, who saw the soup on sale at the store located in a London subway station, told the organization, “I entered the coffee shop Nin Com Soup in Old Street Tube Station to get a drink. In their fridge they had various smoothies, each with a big number on them to differentiate the flavors. One drink didn’t have a number but a large swastika, and the label said it was called ‘Nutzy’. I went to the staff at the counter to discuss this and they called their manager.”

Apparently the manager thought that the swastika was OK since it was really a Hindu symbol of health and prosperity. Even so, how could they also call it “Nutsy.” There really is no way to accept the argument that these people were so uninformed as to not only call the soup “Nutsy, ” but to also use a Swastika on its label. Yes its a pun since the soup is made with nuts. So what?

Talk about clueless. The store’s manager had to ask why the woman was offended.

“He asked why I would find that so offensive, ” she said, “to which I responded that I lost my family to the Nazi regime and that despite the Hindu use of the symbol, this along with the name of the drink was extremely offensive. He said that London is a free city.”

“That man had no shame whatsoever to tell me that I should not be offended by what I saw, when the use of the swastika and the name of that drink is clearly not a coincidence.”

Arizona teens bring swastika cupcakes to Jewish girl's birthday party https://t.co/BmHWxJKi1j pic.twitter.com/t12CpiMKg7

— 12 News (@12News) November 28, 2016

Meanwhile, several Arizona teens thought that it would be funny to decorate cupcakes with swastikas at a Jewish girl’s birthday party. Arizona NBC affiliate 12 News reported on the story, saying that the girls who did it had already learned about the Holocaust and new the meaning of the swastika. And they did this anyway.

Carlos Galindo-Elvira, the director of the Anti-Defamation League in Arizona, told the station, “When you joke with symbols like the swastika you begin to normalize them and make it very casual within our society.”

While there is no justification in blaming Donald Trump for the recent increase in ant-Semitic incidents in America, there may in fact be a correlation to the alt-right and its support of Trump’s candidacy. Many racist and anti-Muslim incidents have also occurred in the last few weeks where the perpetrators made some sort of Donald Trump comments.

Jews right now are wondering how to respond to all of this. Should they take a wait and see attitude or should they take to the streets in protest? Yes. They should do both hand in hand with Blacks, Muslims, Arabs and all of the other ethnic groups in America who are now threatened.

The sad truth here is that, more than 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, American Jews do really have a reason to be worried right now.