A high-profile restaurateur has apologised for displaying a swastika on an anti-Israeli protest placard, saying his Jewish friends know he is not anti-Semitic.
The co-owner of the Nomad Restaurant Group, Al Yazbek, was pictured holding a sign bearing the symbol during a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney on Oct. 6.
It included the words “stop Nazi Israel” and bore the colours of the Israeli flag.
The 56-year-old was later charged with knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol without reasonable excuse, and is due to face court later in October.
The New South Wales (NSW) offence carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison, or an $11,000 (US$7,400) fine.
He was also photographed holding a flag in the colours of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is a listed terrorist organisation in Australia.
But after a public and hospitality industry backlash, Yazbek on Oct. 11 said he apologised unequivocally for carrying a sign that was “deeply offensive to the Jewish community.”
“Friends and acquaintances who know me—both Jewish and gentile—know that I am not an anti-Semite,” he said in a statement.
Yazbek added he had been traumatised every day by the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East.
“Within Israel, in Palestine and now in Lebanon. We must make it stop,” he said.
“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.”
Yazbek’s company operates the critically acclaimed Nomad restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, where it also owns the French-themed Reine & La Rue.
The Sydney protest on Oct. 6 drew thousands of participants despite police going to court to block a permit for organisers, a legal bid that was shelved after a compromise was arranged over the march’s route.
It came a day before the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, which left about 1200 people dead and 250 taken hostage.
The counter-attack by Israel’s military has killed at least 41,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
