Israeli restaurateur quits controversial Gaza food group after criticism : NPR

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, who runs popular restaurants around the world, has left his role as a spokesman for a food distribution group in Gaza, amid calls to boycott his restaurants because of the hundreds of Palestinians killed while approaching the group’s food distribution sites in Gaza.

Segal’s resignation came shortly after NPR and Israeli media reported on his role with the U.S.- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.

Protests erupted in Melbourne, Australia, July 4 outside a branch of Miznon, a restaurant co-owned by Segal and his business partner, celebrity Israeli chef Eyal Shani. Dozens of demonstrators threw chairs and smashed the restaurant’s glass door while chanting anti-Israel slogans, and three people are facing criminal charges in connection with the incident, according to Australian media.

A food charity and social justice activist group in Israel said Monday it was severing ties with a popular nightlife venue in Tel Aviv that hosts one of Segal’s restaurants, in protest of Segal’s previous affiliation with GHF. The Tel Aviv nightlife venue also criticized Segal’s past involvement with GHF.

GHF told NPR in a statement that Segal’s volunteer role had ended because the group expanded its communications team. Segal did not comment about the backlash against his restaurant business.

“My work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has always been rooted in the desire to support those affected by the ongoing war. This volunteer role was always designed to be temporary and has now concluded,” Segal wrote on June 6 in an English-language Instagram post.

More than 500 Palestinians have been killed while approaching GHF sites, Palestinian officials say

Segal and Shani’s restaurant empire includes dozens of Israeli eateries around the world — among them, the Michelin-starred Shmoné in New York City.

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

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, June 9.

Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

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Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

Johnnie Moore, a U.S. evangelical leader and campaign adviser for President Trump’s first election bid in 2016, took over as the head of GHF, after its first director, a U.S. Marine veteran, resigned, saying the group could not adhere to humanitarian principles.

According to Gaza health officials, at least 545 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while attempting to reach the foundation’s food distribution points, which are located near military zones. A U.N. official has called the food centers a “death trap.” The U.N. and leading humanitarian aid groups have refused to cooperate with GHF’s efforts.

Severe Israeli limitations on food entering Gaza have driven rampant hunger among Palestinians. The U.S. and Israel initiated the new food distribution system to replace the old U.N.-run aid system in Gaza, arguing it would isolate Hamas from benefitting from the aid.

Segal had consistently defended the group’s work, arguing it was the only way to deliver food to Gazans without that aid falling into the hands of Hamas.

GHF defends its work, saying it has delivered millions of meals to Palestinians with private American contractors on the ground in Gaza, and that it is expanding its efforts to reach more Palestinians amid the humanitarian crisis. It says it has urged the Israeli military to ensure safer access for Palestinians to GHF food sites, and accuses the U.N. and media outlets of spreading Hamas propaganda about deadly attacks on food-seekers to smear the group.

“Instead of hurling insults and promoting Hamas’ false propaganda from the sidelines, the UN and humanitarian groups should be working collaboratively with GHF to maximize the amount of aid securely delivered into Gaza,” GHF said in a recent statement.

On June 26, NPR published a story on Segal and the foundation. That story was picked up by the food news site Eater, and there were subsequent calls on social media to boycott his chain of Miznon restaurants.

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

Backlash in Israel against the Gaza food organization

The backlash did not stop at the global food scene. Some of Segal’s Israeli business partners also publicly criticized his previous involvement with GHF.

Teder, a popular cultural and nightlife venue in Tel Aviv that is home to Segal’s restaurant Romano, posted a Hebrew-language statement on Instagram: “In recent weeks we’ve become aware of our partner Shahar Segal’s involvement with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. We want to make it unequivocally clear: Teder has no connection to GHF, and we strongly oppose the existence of such an organization. Humanitarian aid must never serve as a tool of control over civilians, and people shouldn’t die trying to get a little flour to what’s left of their families.”

The statement also described Segal as “a private individual whose decisions do not reflect the values of Teder,” adding that his role with GHF was a fully volunteer position. “We believe his intentions may have been good, but that doesn’t change the fact that GHF is an organization — and part of a regime — we believe should not be supported.”

That sentiment was echoed by Culture of Solidarity, an Israeli social justice activist group that works with Teder to distribute food to vulnerable communities. The group announced it was severing ties with the venue over Segal’s previous GHF involvement.

“Learning that Shahar Segal, a co-owner of Teder, served as GHF’s spokesperson shocked us,” the group said in an English-language Instagram statement Tuesday. “This was not a marginal connection — it was a deliberate use of his public image to legitimize a project that acts as a smokescreen for policies of starvation, displacement, and dehumanization in Gaza. … In practice, GHF has become part of the bureaucratic infrastructure of forced population transfer — a crime against humanity. We will not associate with any initiative linked to such atrocities or to the use of food as a weapon.”

A biting op-ed in Israel’s left-leaning newspaper Haaretz — titled “Would You Like a Killing Field in Gaza With Your Overpriced, Israeli-cool Pita?” — detailed how Tel Aviv’s cultural elite that has been a core part of Segal’s customer base was turning against him.

In a statement to NPR, Segal said, “I didn’t quit GHF, because there was nothing to quit. I volunteered to help at the beginning.”

NPR’s Daniel Estrin contributed to this story from Tel Aviv. Anas Baba in Gaza City and Ahmed Abuhamda in Cairo also contributed reporting.