As I wrote recently, restaurateur Al Yazbek seemed likely to find out that, indeed, when you Fuck Around, you Find Out. And he’s finding out, big-time.
Yazbek, in case you missed the original, is a Lebanese-born high-end restaurateur who was arrested at the pro-Hezbollah marches on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Yazbek was photographed waving a mock Hezbollah flag, as demonstrators tried to circumvent laws proscribing the public display of banned terror groups. He was arrested for proudly displaying an Israeli flag defaced with a Nazi swastika.
Within days, there were reports of mass cancellations at his elite Nomad restaurants in Sydney (in the Jewish heartland of the eastern suburbs) and Melbourne. That was just the beginning of the Finding Out.
Mr Yazbek’s swanky Nomad restaurant is housed in a Surry Hills building owned by prominent Sydney real estate investors Robert and Geula Burke through their company, Hanave Pty Ltd.
Ms Burke, originally from Israel, is a well-regarded and popular volunteer at a Sydney Jewish school, which the Australian won’t identify for security reasons.
The Burkes did not respond to requests for comment but sources in the Jewish community say the couple are unhappy with the alleged conduct of Mr Yazbek.
This is just the beginning of the blowback.
Mass cancellations have been reported at Mr Yazbek’s popular Nomad restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as at French-inspired Reine & La Rue in Melbourne’s CBD, which won Best New Restaurant at the Age Good Food Guide Awards.
Retired Sydney industrial advocate Tim Abrams had booked a party of 30 at Nomad in Surry Hills to celebrate daughter Anastasia’s wedding in November but cancelled in protest.
“I think what he’s done is disgusting and unconscionable – it’s un-Australian,” said Mr Abrams, who is Catholic. “We have to stand with the people of Israel.”
Several major corporations have cancelled events, with French Champagne house GH Mumm confirming it has ended its partnership with the Reine & La Rue as caterer for its lavish Birdcage marquee during the Melbourne Cup carnival.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs confirmed it had cancelled a client entertainment event scheduled for next week at Nomad in Melbourne.
The cancellations are probably for the best, given that there may soon not even be anyone to even cook for them.
Reine & La Rue’s head pastry chef, Enza Soto, told the Herald Sun she was “lost for words” that her boss had allegedly been involved in anti-Semitic behaviour, due to co-head chef Rotem Papo being an Israeli-born Jew.
The newspaper reported at least one senior chef resigned “effective immediately” from Nomad following the charges.
I bet this creep thought he was being so terribly clever, too.
The backlash against Mr Yazbek grew this week when new images emerged of the 56-year-old restaurateur holding a flag in the yellow and green colours of Hezbollah with a Ned Kelly-like figure holding a gun, with the words “the boys in green and gold will win”.
Several protesters at the rally in Hyde Park used images that appeared to be designed to skirt laws against displaying the insignia of the terrorist group.
It’s also just the pointy end of a troubled relationship with his landlords.
The Burkes, through their company, Hanave, have been in a long-running dispute with Mr Yazbek that stemmed from a fire at Nomad restaurant in September 2019.
Perhaps they should just cut their losses, evict him and set up a kosher restaurant instead.
