The Nomad restaurant group’s social media profiles are being flooded with negative reviews after the owner held a Nazi symbol at a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney.
Alan Yazbek will face court later this month after police allege he held a sign comparing Israel to the Nazis, and displayed the Israeli flag with a swastika at Sunday’s rally.
Alan Yazbek, the owner of Sydney restaurant Nomad, at the pro-Palestine rally in Hyde Park on Sunday. Credit: Facebook
An image from Sunday’s rally also show him holding a flag reading “our boys in green and gold will win”.
Green and gold are the colours associated with designated terrorist group Hezbollah.
The 56-year-old was charged with the recently created NSW offence of knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol in public.
Police checking flags during a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney.Credit: AAP
Nomad’s Surry Hills restaurant was awarded a hat in Good Food’s 2024 awards, and the restaurant also has a location in Melbourne. The group also owns Melbourne’s Reine & La Rue French inspired restaurant.
Customers have taken to social media to vent their distaste at Yazbek’s alleged conduct.
“I have loved and visited Nomad multiple times over the years. It has been a favourite restaurant of mine. Now sadly … it would be inconceivable for me to return to Nomad,” one customer wrote.
Alan Yazbek has restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne.
Former Victorian Labor Party MP Marsha Thomson said she visited the Melbourne location multiple times but will not go back.
In a statement, Yazbek told The Daily Telegraph: “So many of us have family in the region.
“Every loss of life is a tragedy. We’re in mourning.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said protesters who equate Israel with the Nazi regime “erase the true history of the Holocaust” and could “incite hatred” against Jews.
In a profile on the Nomad website, Yazbek said the best advice he had ever been given was that “Nothing’s impossible!”
He said he is motivated by “building beautiful spaces for guests to then create moments that will, hopefully, stay with them a lifetime”.
Asked about the vision for the original Nomad in Sydney, the couple’s plan for a 30-seat restaurant grew into a “200 seat restaurant because we fell in love with the old warehouse space”, Rebecca said.
“I gave it the Lebanese treatment!” Alan Yazbek said.
Nomad opened in Surry Hills’ Commonwealth Street in 2013, and was awarded one hat by this year’s Good Food Guide.
Jacqui Challinor was the executive chef but announced her departure three weeks ago.
Yazbek has been approached for comment.
With Gemma Grant
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