A newly opened branch of a well-known London bakery was vandalized on Wednesday following a pro-Palestinian demonstration accusing the company of “funding Israel.”

Gail’s Bakery, which has around 170 sites across the UK, launched its latest shop in north London, where a small group of protesters gathered with a banner reading, “Boycott Israel For Genocide And War Crimes in Gaza.” Another sign alleged the business was “funded by investors in apartheid,” according to video footage shared online.

In the video posted on X, a Jewish passerby challenges the demonstration, asking, “Why are you protesting a UK-based business saying ‘Boycott Israel’? Is it because they’ve got Jewish directors?”

A protester replies that the bakery’s profits were “going to private equity owners and investors” who, they claimed, had put money into Israeli “war tech.”

After the protest, red paint was thrown across the bakery’s storefront and signage, accompanied by sprayed words reading “Boycott Gails, funds Israeli tech.”

London’s Metropolitan Police reported no arrests so far and said officers are reviewing additional footage to identify potential suspects.

Gail’s traces its origins to a wholesale bakery established in the 1990s by Israeli bakers, including Gail Mejia and Ran Avidan, before opening its first retail shop in 2005.

The business was acquired in 2021 by the American investment firm Bain Capital, which has invested in Israeli technology companies.

“We are a British business with no specific connections to any country or government outside the UK,” a Gail’s spokesperson told the Jewish News. “Our focus right now is on working with the authorities and making sure our people feel safe and supported.”

Gail’s is not alone in facing such activism. In the United States, the bakery chain Tatte has been protested in person and online, and New York’s Breads chain recently saw unionization efforts tied to accusations of supporting “the genocide happening in Palestine.”

The vandalism sparked swift backlash from Jewish organizations in the UK, who said it echoed rising hostility toward Jewish-linked businesses.

“Targeting a business on the basis of alleged or perceived Israeli and or Jewish connections reflects a very worrying trend,” a spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said. “Across the UK, companies and individuals are increasingly singled out by reference to their association, real or otherwise, to Israel, with an inevitable disproportionate impact on the Jewish community. That is not legitimate protest; it is creating an atmosphere of intimidation for Jewish businesses, staff and customers. And is part of a wider trend to try and drive Jews out of wider civil society.”

The European Jewish Congress called the incident “deeply concerning” in a statement on X.

“Targeting a local business because of perceived Jewish or Israeli associations reflects a troubling normalization of hostility that must be firmly rejected,” the post said. “Such acts have no place in our societies and must be unequivocally condemned.”

British Labour MP David Taylor also criticized the protest, writing on X, “This is pure anti-semitism, no ifs, no buts.”