Israeli restaurateur quits controversial Gaza food group after criticism : NPR

The demonstrators enter Miznon Hardware Lane in Melbourne, Australia, on July 4. Protesters clashed with restaurant staff, who is co-owner by Shahar Segal, who had joined the Gaza humanitarian foundation supported by the United States and the United States as a spokesperson. Segal has since left its role with the controversial Gaza food distribution group.

Alex Zucco / Sopa Images / Lightrocket via Getty Images

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Alex Zucco / Sopa Images / Lightrocket via Getty Images

Like Aviv, Israel – Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, who runs popular restaurants around the world, has left his role as spokespersons for a food distribution group in Gaza, in the midst of calls to boycott his restaurants due to the hundreds of Palestinians killed while approaching the group’s food distribution sites in Gaza.

Segal’s resignation occurred shortly after NPR and the Israeli media reported its role with the group supported by the United States and Israeli, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.

Demonstrations broke out in Melbourne, Australia, on July 4 outside a branch in Miznon, a restaurant co -owned by Segal and his trading partner, the famous Israeli chief Eyal Shani. Dozens of demonstrators have thrown chairs and broke the restaurant’s glass door while singing anti-Israeli slogans, and three people face criminal charges related to the incident, according to Australian media.

A group of food and social justice activists in Israel said on Monday that it broke ties with a popular nighttime place in Tel Aviv who hosted one of Segal’s restaurants, to protest against the previous affiliation of Segal with GHF. Tel Aviv’s place of nightlife also criticized Segal’s past participation with GHF.

GHF told NPR in a statement that Segal’s volunteer role had ended because the group has expanded its communication team. Segal did not comment against his catering business.

“My work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has always been rooted in the desire to support people affected by the current war. This role of volunteer has always been designed to be temporary and ended,” wrote Segal on June 6 in an Instagram post in English.

More than 500 Palestinians were killed by approaching GHF sites, say Palestinian officials

The Empire of the Segal and Shani restaurant includes dozens of Israeli restaurants around the world – among them, the Michelin star shmoné in New York.

Segal had been spokesperson for the GHF for the Israeli media since he started distributing food in Gaza in May, despite repeated warnings from international humanitarian organizations that the foundation’s distribution model could endanger civilians.

The Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid forms delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organization supported by the United States, in Rafah, Southern Gaza Strip, on June 9.

Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

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Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

Johnnie Moore, an American evangelical leader and campaign advisor for the first electoral offer of President Trump in 2016, took over as GHF chief, after his first director, a veteran American sea, resigned, saying that the group could not respect humanitarian principles.

According to Gaza health officials, at least 545 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army while trying to reach the foundation’s food distribution points, which are located near military areas. An official of the United Nations described the food centers as “death trap”. The UN and the main humanitarian aid groups refused to cooperate with GHF’s efforts.

Severe Israeli limitations on foods entering Gaza have caused a rampant hunger among the Palestinians. The United States and Israel has launched the new food distribution system to replace the old non-managed assistance system in Gaza, arguing that it would isolate Hamas to benefit from aid.

Segal had always defended the work of the group, arguing that it was the only way to deliver food to the Gazans without this help falling into the hands of Hamas.

The GHF defends his work, saying that he has delivered millions of meals to the Palestinians with private American entrepreneurs on the ground in Gaza, and that he expands his efforts to reach more Palestinians in the middle of the humanitarian crisis. He indicates that he urged the Israeli soldiers to provide safer access to the Palestinians at GHF food sites, and accuses the UN and the Hamas propaganda propaganda media on deadly attacks against food seekers to dirty the group.

“Instead of launching insults and promoting the fake propaganda of Hamas in the key line, UN and UN groups should work in collaboration with GHF to maximize the quantity of assistance in complete safety in Gaza,” GHF said in a recent declaration.

On June 26, NPR published a story on Segal and the Foundation. This story has been recovered by the eater of food sites, and there have been subsequent calls on social networks to boycott its chain of Miznon restaurants.

On June 28, Segal informed journalists in Israel that he would no longer respond to GHF media surveys.

Hinged in Israel against the food organization of Gaza

The backlash did not stop on the global food scene. Some of the Israeli segal business partners have also publicly criticized its previous involvement with GHF.

TEDEDER, a popular cultural and nocturnal place in Tel Aviv which houses the restaurant of Segal, Romano, has published a Hebrew language declaration on Instagram: “In recent weeks, we have become aware of our partner Shahar Segal with the Gaza Humanitaire Foundation. We want to oppose such an organization to never oppose such an organization. Serving a tool for control over civilians, and people should not die A little flour to what remains of their families. “

The statement has also described Segal as “a private individual whose decisions do not reflect the values of Tededer”, adding that his role with GHF was a fully voluntary position. “We believe that his intentions may have been good, but that does not change the fact that GHF is an organization – and part of a diet – we think we should not be supported.”

This feeling was taken up by Culture of Solidarity, a group of Israeli social justice activists who work with Teder to distribute food to vulnerable communities. The group announced that it was breaking links with the place in the previous participation of the GHF of Segal.

“Learning that Shahar Segal, a co-owner of Tededed, was the spokesman for GHF shocked us,” the group said in an Instagram statement in English on Tuesday. “It was not a marginal connection – it was a deliberate use of its public image to legitimize a project which acts as a smoke screen for famine, movement and dehumanization policies in Gaza. … In practice, the GHF was part of the bureaucratic infrastructure of the forced population – a crime against humanity.”

A biting editorial in the left newspaper of Israel HaaretzEntitled “Do you want a mass of killing in Gaza with your Pita in too much Israeli cho-cool?”, Detailed how the cultural elite of Tel Aviv – a fundamental part of Segal’s customers – turned against him.

In a statement at NPR, Segal said: “I did not leave GHF, because there was nothing to leave. I volunteered to help at the start.”

Daniel Estrin of NPR contributed to this story of Tel Aviv. Anas Baba in Gaza City and Ahmed Abuhamda in Cairo also contributed the reports.