Owner of Nomad apologises for Nazi symbol
Alan Yazbek, owner of popular Surry Hills middle-eastern restaurant Nomad, attended Sunday's pro-Palestine rally and held up a deeply offensive sign.
Well known owner of Nomad restaurant Alan Yazbek has apologised “unequivocally” for his actions and says he will do all he can to, “regain the trust of my wonderful staff, our loyal customers, and the broader community”.
Yazbek was charged by NSW Police with holding up a Nazi swastika sign at last Sunday’s pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park.
The sign read “Stop Nazi Israel” and had the Star of David in the centre of the Israeli flag replaced with the swastika.
The 56-year-old, who has run the popular restaurant in Surry Hills for more than a decade, was charged with knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public.
“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,” said Yazbek in a statement sent to The AJN.
“Like a great many, I am traumatised daily by the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East – within Israel, in Palestine and now in Lebanon. We must make it stop.
“Again, I apologise unreservedly.
“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.
“Salam Alaykum (Peace be upon you).”
Yazbek, along with his wife Rebecca, has also opened two successful restaurants in Melbourne – one called Nomad and the other called Reine.
Co-head chef at Reine, Rotem Papo, is an Israeli-born Jew, while in recent years, acclaimed Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi was invited to cook in Nomad’s Surry Hills kitchen.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) co-CEO Alex Ryvchin described Yazbek’s actions as “diabolical”.
“Anti-Israel fanatics have long equated Jews with Nazis as a way of taunting the Jewish community with the symbols of those who nearly exterminated them – to compare the systematic annihilation of a people with a just war in response to the barbarism of October 7 is diabolical,” said Ryvchin.
“It is a doubly egregious act as it erases the true history of the Holocaust and also associates Jews with the highest evil in order to incite hatred against them.
“Inaccurate reporting that the individual is Jewish caused distress in the community and may have led some to conclude that the sign could not be racist in nature.”
NSW Police had warned protesters ahead of the sanctioned event about displaying symbols or flags with links to Hezbollah or photos of the groups recently assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah.
After having his sign taken off him and being placed under arrest, Yazbek was taken to Surry Hills Police Station where he was charged and granted police bail.
The conditions of that bail prohibit him from going within two kilometres of Town Hall, except to attend his restaurant and various business offices for work.
Yazbek is set to face Downing Centre Local Court on October 24.
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