A California hotel clerk allegedly saw Israeli passports, shouted “Free Palestine,” accused guests of being “baby killers,” began recording, then posted the video himself on social media. This is vile antisemitism, and it has no place in the hospitality industry.
California Hotel Clerk Harasses Israeli Guests, Calls Them “Baby Killers”
A disturbing incident at Oceanpoint Ranch in Cambria, California shows the sort of political hatred that is simply unjustified and disproportionate.
As flagged by View From The Wing, a hotel employee confronted guests after seeing their Israeli passports, called them “Zionists” and “baby killers,” and asked whether they had served in the IDF.
The employee apparently thought he was doing something noble by filming and posting the encounter himself.
He was not.
The video reportedly begins after the initial interaction, with the employee saying:
“All I said was Free Palestine.”
The woman responds that hotel staff should remain objective and professional with guests. That is exactly right. A hotel front desk is not a campus protest or a cable news panel. It is a place where guests present identification, check in, receive keys, and should be treated with dignity.
Instead, the clerk allegedly escalated:
“Are you a Zionist?”
Then:
“Are you a baby killer?”
And:
“Did you serve in the IDF?”
Sorry, this is disgusting. It’s like asking a Palestinian guest if they kill Israelis.
Criticizing Israel Is One Thing. Targeting Israeli Hotel Guests Is Another.
One can criticize the government of Israel or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One can criticize military tactics in Gaza, the humanitarian toll of war, the occupation of the West Bank, settler violence, or any number of Israeli policies. I have done so before and will do so again when warranted.
But that is not what happened here.
This was not a policy debate or a thoughtful discussion about war, proportionality, security, hostages, Palestinian civilians, or the future of two peoples in one land (not that even that would have been appropriate at the time).
No, this was a hotel employee apparently seeing Israeli passports and deciding that these guests should be personally accused of being baby killers…and that is vile antisemitism.
It is antisemitic because it treats Israeli identity as guilt, using “Zionist” not as a political descriptor, but as a slur. Why should random Israeli travelers answer for the military action of the State of Israel while trying to check into a hotel in California?
No guest should be forced to pass a political purity test at the front desk…do I even need to say this?
Israeli Passport Does Not Equal War Criminal
The question “Did you serve in the IDF?” is also a loaded question. In Israel, military service is broadly compulsory, though there are exceptions. Asking that question in this context is not curiosity. It is a trap. It is an attempt to turn nationality into criminality.
Imagine doing this to any other guest.
A Russian checks into a hotel. Should the clerk demand an answer for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine?
A Chinese citizen presents a passport. Should the clerk interrogate him about Uyghurs or harsh rhetoric against Taiwan?
An American checks into a hotel abroad. Should he be accused of killing civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, or Hiroshima?
Of course not.
People are not their governments. Travelers are not proper targets for rage because they hold the passport of a country whose policies you oppose.
That is such a basic principle of hospitality, travel, and civilization that it should not need to be said, but here we are.
The Hotel Says The Employee Is Gone
Oceanpoint Ranch reportedly said the employee is no longer working there and apologized to the guests. According to a statement attributed to the hotel’s general manager:
“The conduct depicted in the video does not reflect the standards of professionalism, respect, and hospitality we strive to uphold. We take this matter seriously and have initiated an immediate internal review.”
The hotel also said it had been in direct contact with the guest and apologized.
Good.
That is the minimum appropriate response. A hotel cannot allow front desk employees to harass guests based on nationality, religion, ethnicity, or political assumptions. It is a fundamental violation of what hotels exist to provide: safety, shelter, and hospitality.
Hospitality Requires Neutrality
The front desk is one of the most important positions in any hotel.
The person working that desk is often the first human interaction a guest has with the property. That person controls the tone. A tired traveler, an elderly couple, a family with children, a foreign visitor, or a nervous guest arriving late at night should be able to approach the desk without wondering whether the clerk is about to turn their passport into an indictment.
Hospitality requires restraint.
You may have strong political opinions, but when you are being paid to check guests into a hotel, your job is to check guests into a hotel.
Not to interrogate them or humiliate them!
Accusing them of murdering babies because you saw the word “Israel” on a passport? Sick.
CONCLUSION
A California hotel clerk allegedly confronted Israeli guests at Oceanpoint Ranch in Cambria, called them “Zionists” and “baby killers,” asked whether they served in the IDF. This was vile antisemitism.
A hotel should be a place of welcome, not a place where a front desk clerk turns check-in into a political ambush.
The hotel says the employee is no longer working there and has apologized to the guests. That is good.
But hospitality cannot survive if guests are treated as proxies for wars, governments, or ideologies. Whatever your politics, travelers deserve basic human dignity. These guests did not receive it.
One search of their Twitter would show you their true self. Kind of crazy the hotel hired them to begin with. Has 431k Twitter posts…hotel could get crushed with a huge lawsuit.
It’s possible the employee was on drugs too. He certainly sounded erratic. And hateful speech like his is not protected speech in a public environment or in the hotel environment either. If he had been verbally, aggressive and obstructing the guests access to their keys, I assume the hotel is liable as well.
Would we have been so kind to a traveling Nazi in 1041/1942? The clerk was out of line and it’s unacceptable behavior in a free society but I have no sympathy for the guest either. Time and place for everything and a donation in the guests name to a Palestinian charity would have been wiser.
You have “no sympathy” for the guest? Because she was an Israeli citizen? You think every German supported Hitler?
Comparing Israel to Nazi German shows me you don’t know a thing about history.
Shame on you…
“Would we have been so kind to a traveling Nazi in 1041/1942?”
How would you know if they were Nazis by just showing a passport?
“The clerk was out of line”
Agreed
“and it’s unacceptable behavior in a free society”
I disagree. It’s wrong to me, but exactly the kind of thing we tolerate in a free society.
“but I have no sympathy for the guest either.”
Despite the fact you have no idea of their political stance, party affiliations, or what their IDF service entailed?
Well people are not directly their government but they elected the government. Of course I find this hotel staff behavior unprofessional and unacceptable but I am not sure if I accept the argument that people are not guilty. If I am a supporter of netanyahu, I am guilty of killing babies because I supported such a government. If I am not a supporter of netanyahu, I would have probably simply agreed with the staff and say that as an Israeli I can’t change some of the following citizens cruelness because it is democratic regime.
“If I am a supporter of Netanyahu, I am guilty of killing babies”
Are Americans guilty of killing babies who voted for FDR in WWII?
I was in Hiroshima earlier this week, and to that question, I’d say yes. They are responsible. Look, there are some good arguments for dropping the a bomb, but the government knew what they were doing, and it was American tax payers that footed the bil. It happened 40 years before I was born, but I felt a little responsible for what happened.
You are switching the arguments from the present to past, which is not valid. As a lawyer I thought you could do better. If we take your example for the present time, yes I still think that the Americans who voted for trump is still responsible for the current war in the middle east and subsequent economic consequences. Note that I am not blaming the Americans who didn’t vote for trump, same for netanyahu
Of course it’s valid, even if you don’t like the comparison. I doubt anyone voted for FDR to slaughter German and Japanese civilians or for Trump to wage wars of choice when he explicitly ran against it.
I voted against Trump three times – I think he is a repugnant man who is unfit for public office – but calling Trump voters “killers” is a step too far (just like calling Netanyahu voters killers).
Netanyahu, at least in Gaza, has done what is proportionate to protect the citizens he has been entrusted to protect…and yes, that has resulted in horrific calamity to the people of Gaza which no person of conscience should celebrate. I’m not defending the West Bank settlements or the current war with Hezbollah or Iran…but don’t tell me that there could have been a diplomatic solution in Gaza when Hamas made clear that its only and unending goal is to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth and it continues to this day to launch missiles into Israel.
Well that is your assumption. I know people who actively support war and killing babies for trump and netanyahu. And they voted for them as well.
Regarding the Gaza I didn’t wanna get into more arguments because you are obviously biased. It is pointless
You’re 100% correct here, Matthew. Every war is tragic, yet some wars are necessary and don’t leave any other choice, Gaza being a prime example of that. There was no other outcome possible. Is every war a tragedy? Of course. Is every war a crime? Of course not.
I spend more time each year outside the US than in. I never hide my US citizenship. There’s a lot of anti-US rhetoric both inside and outside the US under this administration (not uniquely just this administration). And, you know, nobody has ever said any anti-American thing to me in these travels. To be sure, I’ve had conversations with people whose every viewpoint seems opposite of that we might picture as “American.” But, every single one of them recognized I could agree with the current administration on some (certainly not all) issues and not be evil. There are smart enough to know a vote for or against Netanyahu does not make some baby killers and some not.
That being said, if I had an American flag t-shirt, I certainly wouldn’t be wearing it around France, particularly during the May Day marches.
Over 50% of Israelis support the Gaza genocide.
what genocide? redefining a term to fit your narrative doesn’t make it true.
This is today’s Democratic Party in a nutshell.
And no one can deny it.
Not only the Democratic Party, but much of the so-called “Far Right,” showing that politics is like a circle in which the fringes of both parties eventually converge.
not disagreeing
but look at candence owens, tucker, david duke and that bunch
Anyone with common sense would, actually.
Liar.
Have you ever read any posts by Elon Musk?
The anti-Israel sentiment is shared by antagonists on both the right and the left. But not shared by the majority of either party. People like yourself try to weaponize it in order to distract people that do not know any better from some other hypocritical activity you are doing (e.g., bombing Iran, executing US citizens on US streets, setting up slush funds for the president to steal money from the US treasury, etc.).
Anyone with half a functioning brain sees through your lies.
well thats showing the last nationality in the world still willing to visit the US to the door
That is the Democratic Party in real life.. Is they think you are a Republican you would even get worse treatment and not be allowed to CHECK-IN!! they would make you leave that is how bad the brainwashing is in Calif…in general…………………………
“ A hotel cannot allow front desk employees to harass guests based on nationality, religion, ethnicity, or political assumptions.” I would add to that sexual orientation. Believe it or not, that discrimination exists here in the U.S. and in some instances, the Courts have ruled that it’s permissible.
“Believe it or not, that discrimination exists here in the U.S. and in some instances, the Courts have ruled that it’s permissible.” Have they in housing or hotel accommodations? We are certainly all aware of the cases where people in the wedding service industry win cases when they declined to provide services available from others for gay weddings. I take no stance on that issue for the purposes of this post…just curious.
Where was the antisemitism part?
Calling them baby killers because they were citizens of the Zionist state? Don’t pull the “there are Christians and Muslims in Israel too” card please.
Cling all Jews baby killers would be anti-semitic. This person did not do that.
Aaron, I’ll wager you’ve never met an anti-Semite you wouldn’t apologise for. Reinhard Heydrich was just misunderstood, I’m sure.
That’s absurd. Their country has killed tens of thousands of children. It has nothing to do with religion. Again, making a knee-jerk reaction and accusing someone of antisemitism is simple minded.
Self-defense…the blood of those children is on the hands of the government of Gaza.
Again, point out the antisemitism part. Your deflecting.
Matthew, here’s where I struggle with this. I think the clerk was wrong for calling them out in that matter, but are they not at least entitled to hold those views? Many people who have served in the IDF have killed babies. Like it or not, they have. Creating and maintaining the modern state of Israel is both the goal, and the definition of Zionism. If someone served in the IDF, killed a child, and lives in and holds Israeli citizenship, they are a baby killing Zionist. Many people fit that bill. I don’t see how acknowledging that, if it is true, make someone antisemitic.
question is percentagewise of israelis who serve in idf is around 60 percent
of those how many are in combat units, and of those how many actually willfully purposely killed a baby?????
its like telling every american you meet that he captured maduro
Less than 1% of Americans serve in the armed forces…
But you’re not challenging my point, you’re just saying it only applies to >60% of the population.
I am saying that applying an irrelevant label is antisemetic,
it would be like accusing a christian of westerboro church,
that label is around but when applying it loosely based on nationality or religion that is bigoted
@Jerry: Yes, the clerk is entitled to hold those views – that is a fundamental human right, even if such views are not rooted in fact or logic (which I acknowledge, for example, many would say about my Xtian worldview).
The difference, I see, is that when Americans killed German or Japanese babies in WWII or Israeli solders killed babies in Gaza it was not done deliberately: it was not the goal.
Those, however, that murder…that kill in cold blood with premeditation (i.e. Mỹ Lai Massacre in Vietnam)…are guilty of a capital crime and should be executed…and those IDF soldiers who murder should be held accountable for being the baby killers that they are.
But we cannot say use guilt by association and argumentum ad odium to say that all IDF soldiers are butchers.
Bigotry comes is all colors and nationality. As Americans living in the U.S. we take our freedom of bigotry, hatred and freedom to cuss out anyone who we disagree eith. For granted. My only suggestion is unless you have lived and endured it, keep your bigotry and hatred to your bedroom and toilet!!
FFS. That clerk. This article. The comment thread. All of it.
The irony of this country celebrating its 250th when this is who we now are. All the celebratory signs look like epitaphs to me.
What’s wrong with the article?