Nomad restaurant founder Al Yazbek sentenced over Nazi symbol

The embattled restaurant founder escaped conviction for holding a hand-drawn sign with a swastika on an Israeli flag at a pro-Palestine rally.

Al Yazbek with a Nazi like symbol on it at the protest in Hyde Park. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

A local court magistrate has accepted that embattled Nomad restaurant founder Al Yazbek “regrets every minute” of the day he brandished a sign bearing a swastika superimposed on an Israeli flag at a pro-Palestine rally.

Yet the magistrate called his “ignorance” over the significance of the swastika symbol “laughable”, saying everyone knows how offensive it is to the Jewish people.

Mr Yazbek was sentenced to a Community Release Order without conviction at the Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday after he previously pleaded guilty to charges of knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol in public.

The court heard when police approached him at the rally on October 6 and told him it was “offensive and prohibited” to display the Nazi symbol in public, he replied with “What’s the offensive symbol?”. When police informed him that it was the swastika, he said the symbol was an “Israeli swastika” before he became argumentative, but then complied with police and stopped displaying the symbol.

In an apology letter to the court, Mr Yazbek said his “intention in holding the placard at the rally was to provoke thought and public discussion about what I perceive to be the parallels between the abhorrent treatment of Jewish people by Nazi Germany and the current warring actions of the Israeli government against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.

“In doing so, I failed to consider, and am now only beginning to understand, the trauma that the Jewish people carry from the holocaust which is symbolised by the Nazi swastika.”

Restauranteur Alan Yazbek departs Downing Centre Local Court after sentencing. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

Speaking outside court, Mr Yazbek said he was “profoundly sorry” but ignored questions about his hospitality empire.

“I just want to make a short statement, I got it horribly wrong,” he said to waiting reporters.

“I’m profoundly sorry, I hope the Jewish community can forgive me over time,” Mr Yazbek said.

“All I’ve ever wanted was peace in the region.”’

In his opening remarks, Mr Yazbek’s lawyer Phillip English said that his client had received a number of abusive emails due to the media attention around his charges.

Magistrate Miranda Moody asked, “I’m not supposed to feel sorry for him, am I?”

Mr English responded: “I’m not asking Your Honour to feel sorry for him. I do ask you to take it into account.”

The Magistrate went off the bench to read a large folder of material handed up to the court, including eight written references, many “from Jewish friends”.

When she returned, she said, “I accept he is no neo-Nazi or right wing extremist” and “in no way anti-Semitic”, referring to some of the abuse she said was “directed at him” where he was called a “Nazi-lover”.

She said Mr Yazbek, who was “passionate about the middle east region”, had paid “a very high price” for the foolish public display, telling the court he “had to stand down as the managing director of his company”.

It was previously reported there were mass cancellations at the couple’s up-market restaurants Nomad Sydney, Nomad Melbourne and Reine & La Rue, with major corporations cancelling events and business relationships after Mr Yazbek’s charges were made public.

“He has had it explained to him in no uncertain terms the magnitude of what he did on that day in terms of what he did to people committed to Israeli cause,” she said.

She outlined two references written by Jewish friends, who she chose not to name, and which she submitted to the court.

One said the “display of these symbols is extremely hurtful to me personally” calling it “ignorant and provocative … (and) utter stupidity” but added “one thing I am 100 per cent sure of is that Al is not an anti-Semite in any sense of the word”.

Another Jewish friend said he had “never expressed anti-Semitism” and that his “self-professed ignorance of the significance of the swastika and what it means to Jews is bewildering.”

Magistrate Moody said “everyone knew” the swastika was associated with Nazis and activities in Germany and said his ignorance was “laughable really”.

She took into account the “extra-curial punishment” he had suffered including the numerous threats made to him.

“No doubt he had some serious fears in relation to the protection of his own family given some of the thing I’ve read, which are truly horrifying,” she said.

In handing down her sentence, Magistrate Moody said “I am not going to convict Mr Yazbek today. I accept that he’s utterly remorseful” and that he had “sought to educate” himself.

Mr Yazbek previously told The Australian he would be standing down from the Nomad business, for the sake of his family, staff and customers, to attend an ashram in India. He also apologised “unequivocally” for his conduct.

Alan Yazbek departs Downing Centre Local Court after sentencing. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

In late October, Mr Yazbek’s wife sent an email to the restaurant group’s patrons slamming her husband and saying she was “furious with his actions and heartbroken by the harm they caused”.

In the message emailed to Nomad patrons, Ms Yazbek said her husband was no longer involved in the management of the business.

“I fully understand the disappointment and frustration felt by those affected, and I am committed to doing everything possible to restore your trust,” she said.