No Place For Hate
Yazbek’s apology drew hundreds of comments on The AJN’s social media channels, with many accusing him of being less than genuine.
If Alan Yazbek was following the Jewish community’s response to his apology, it would have taken him less than five minutes to realise it wasn’t going to be very warmly received.
After the well-known owner of one of Sydney’s favourite restaurants Nomad and Melbourne’s grand French-inspired Reine & La Rue was charged by NSW Police with holding up a Nazi swastika sign at a pro-Palestinian rally, Yazbek’s crisis communications team went into damage control.
The apology, initially sent only to The AJN, had the 56-year-old apologising “unequivocally” for his actions.
“Friends and acquaintances who know me – both Jewish and gentile – know that I am not an antisemite, and they also know how passionate I am about supporting diversity and equality in both my personal life and within the NOMAD Group of businesses.
“To the wider Jewish community, and in particular my Jewish friends, staff and guests of NOMAD both past and present, I offer an olive branch of peace and love.”
But what Yazbek has attempted to apologise for was more than a misguided mistake. He has been charged with knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol in public by holding up a deeply offensive sign – presumably made for the occasion – that read ‘Stop Nazi Israel’ and had the Star of David in the centre of the Israeli flag replaced with the swastika.
More than that, Yazbek has form. In 2014 he was questioned by police after acting suspiciously outside a synagogue in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and the next day he made his way to a rally for Israel, only to be removed by security.
The AJN understands that Yazbek was given a move-on notice at the 2014 rally for ‘breach of the peace’. A decade on, he appears to have repeated a similar ‘mistake’.
Yazbek’s apology drew hundreds of comments on The AJN’s social media channels, with many accusing him of being less than genuine.
“I believe in those words as much as I believe in Santa Claus,” wrote one follower, with another adding, “you underestimate us as a community. We’ve been around a long time (and aren’t going anywhere)”.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said no one took Yazbek’s apology seriously, “which predictably referred to ‘Jewish friends’ and a ‘support for diversity’ to mask deplorable actions”.
“These latest revelations show a pattern of vilification and harassment of Jewish Australians going back a decade,” said Ryvchin.
“Both incidents weren’t spontaneous emotional outbursts, but involved planning and premeditation, suggesting a disturbing level of fixation.”
The harassment of Jewish Australians extended further into the hospitality industry this week, with the owner of upmarket Bistro St Jacques restaurant Nick Stone posting on social media a picture of an Israeli soldier in the form of a pig, alongside a comment describing Jews as a “death cult”. The image was posted on October 7.
But no one had a better response to being targeted than the proudly Jewish owner of Avner’s Bakery Ed Halmagyi, whose Sydney shopfront was vandalised with an upside down red triangle and a threatening note that read ‘Be Careful’ shoved under the door.
“Unfortunately for them, they don’t realise just how strong we are as a community,” Halmagyi said.
“But it’s going to happen to other people and I’ve got some advice for you when it happens. Don’t use it as a reason to withdraw, to feel like the world is too big – use it as an invitation to get bigger yourself. Stand taller, be prouder and remember one very important thing – we’re Jewish and we’re proud and we’re strong.”
A timely reminder to the likes of Yazbek, whose attempt at vilification of Australia’s Jewish community has left his own business in tatters.
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