Just weeks after receiving a Michelin star for his New York restaurant, Israeli chef Eyal Shani finds himself at the center of a political scandal. During an event at his new restaurant HaSalon in Miami, a group of diners who waved the Israeli flag and cheered "Am Yisrael Chai,” were removed from the establishment. The staff even called the police on the group.
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On Monday, Shani responded to the incident. In his statement, he claims that the restaurant manager made a mistake in his judgment: "In days when our hearts are torn, to snatch the Israeli flag from a person who raised it from the depths of his heart and throw it on the floor is an act of abuse, of trampling on the soul of another, and of his degradation. It is a terrible crime, something we would never do," Shani said.
"I want to believe that the Miami shift manager had a lapse of judgment for a moment and didn’t understand the sentiment, and he made a mistake that we would never make," he added.
Shani did not specify if any action would be taken against the restaurant manager, but he mentioned that the matter is currently under investigation. According to him, "Last night, at HaSalon restaurant in Miami, an unfortunate incident took place. A group of Israeli guests danced on the tables and waved Israeli flags, and the shift manager who was at the event snatched the flags away from them and called the police."
One of the diners present at the scene, an American lawyer named Sean Levy, documented the incident and uploaded the videos to Instagram. He and his friends are seen dancing on the tables in the restaurant, as is customary, shouting "Am Yisrael Chai" and waving the Israeli flag until a staff member approaches them and tries to remove the flag.
In response, the diners climb on the table, break dishes, and shout that they are not willing to pay the bill. The restaurant staff called the police, but the diners did the same, claiming they were attacked by the staff.
One of the diners told the police that a restaurant employee grabbed him by the neck and choked him. The restaurant manager told the police that the diners didn’t respect the fact that the restaurant was non-political, reacted violently, and so he had to expel them and call the police.
Some of the diners later added, "Everyone in the restaurant was Israeli or Jewish. We said we’d come to support the people of Israel, so we came with the flag, but they told us to remove it and issued us a warning.”
“The table next to us didn’t really listen, raised the flag again, and then the restaurant staff came and took it by force. If this place is not political, then why serve Israeli food and play Israeli music? Because it makes them money, and the flag hurts them. This is pure antisemitism. We won’t be coming back here," they said.