Israeli restaurant chain in DC hit by Gaza protests permanently closes

Shouk, a plant-based kosher street-food chain in Washington, D.C., permanently shut down its final locations this month in part due to protests and boycotts from anti-Israel activists.Once featured by the Food Network and The Washington Post for its "Shouk Burger," the chain had five stores in the region. The closures come after two years of protests and boycotts over the war in Gaza crippled the business.Local activist group DC for Palestine led a boycott campaign that claimed the restaurant’s falafel and other menu items "appropriated" Palestinian cuisine and that the owners were "complicit