High-profile Burgertory CEO issues open letter to Jewish community after video surfaced showing him chanting anti-Israel slogan at Melbourne protest – but he stops short of apologising

EXCLUSIVE

A high-profile founder of a multi-million dollar gourmet burger chain has been forced to publish an open letter to Melbourne’s Jewish community after he was filmed leading anti-Israel chants – but he has not apologized.

Hash Tayeh, 32, who founded Burgertory in 2018, which has since become Australia’s largest independent burger chain, was filmed at a pro-Palestine protest in Melbourne on Sunday.

Tayeh held a loudspeaker and led the chants “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Some interpret the rallying cry as anti-Semitic because it essentially calls for the dismantling of Israel by expanding the Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

“It is an anti-Semitic accusation that denies the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland,” the Anti-Defamation League said.

It has also been used by the terrorist organization Hamas as a rallying cry to expel Jews from the state of Israel.

Mr Tayeh, who also led chants of “Shame, shame on USA, how many children have you killed today,” originally shared the footage on his Instagram page.

It has now switched to private after a wave of criticism for its involvement in the protest.

On Monday, the Jordanian-born entrepreneur wrote “an open letter to my Jewish friends” after a wave of criticism over his involvement in the protest and calls to boycott his restaurants.

He strongly rejected accusations that he held anti-Semitic views and claimed he was a “voice for peace.”

“At no stage have I ever called for harm to anyone, and I would like to emphasize that I maintain deep and meaningful friendships with members of the Jewish community.”

Burgertory has 18 stores in Melbourne, including one in the suburb of Caulfield, where 20,000 Jews live.

Mr Tayeh said “violence or extermination” was against everything he stood for and that he loved humanity too much to be anti-Semitic – but he did not apologize directly.

Instead, he tried to explain that there were different interpretations of the slogan.

‘Unfortunately there are two very big differences in the interpretation of the hymn ‘From the River to the Sea’, but from first hand (sic) I can assure you that there is no one I know who means it in the sense we want Jewish people dead or Israel exterminated,” he wrote.

‘The Dutch court recently ruled that these are protected statements and not anti-Semitic.’

Mr Tayeh referred to a recent decision by the Court of Appeal in the Netherlands, which upheld a decision to acquit a pro-Palestinian activist who used the chant at a 2021 rally on freedom of expression grounds.

The ruling found that the chant “From the River to the Sea” had “several interpretations” and was not directly related to the Jewish people, but rather to the State of Israel.

However, the decision sets the Netherlands apart from other Western countries that have taken steps to ban the slogan.

For example, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently said it was “widely understood as a demand for the destruction of Israel” and a “staple of anti-Semitic discourse.”

A recent editorial in the Australian newspaper focused on the “virtuous signaling of green-left parties singing ‘from the river to the sea Palestine will be free’.”

“This phrase is a euphemism for wiping Israel off the map, as Iran’s brutal regime, which is intolerant of any form of protest, has long advocated,” the newspaper wrote.

Mr Tayeh explained that he was “personally affected” by the bloodshed in the Middle East.

“I killed 38 family members and murdered two orphans I sponsored over the past five years, ages 7 and 9,” he wrote.

He added: “All we ask is peace and unity, an end to the killing and suffering on both sides.

Why is it necessary for them to be a party? Why can’t we be on the side of humanity and unity?

“If I were welcomed to the Jewish gatherings, I would be there with my head held high and calling for the release of hostages and the security of Israel.

“Why can’t the best Palestinians and Israelis here in Australia be the example of what unity could look like? That’s what I strive for.’

Ny Breaking Australia approached Mr Tayeh for comment.

Mr Tayeh has been rapidly expanding Burgertory, claiming earlier this year that he hopes to have more than 50 stores in operation by the end of 2023, including 10 new restaurants in NSW.

The company achieved $30 million in hamburger sales in 2021.

Mr Tayeh and his family briefly lived in Australia when he was just a year old, after fleeing Jordan during the Gulf War.

When he turned six, his family moved to Qatar for his father’s work.

After leaving school at 16, he tricked his parents into letting him visit his aunt in Australia, and he ended up staying for good.

He initially worked multiple jobs to support himself, including at McDonald’s, before founding Burgertory.

His statement to Melbourne’s Jewish community comes just a day after the co-owner of Australia’s most popular bakery was forced to issue a groveling apology over allegedly anti-Semitic comments.

Cameron Reid, who runs the wildly popular Lune Croissanterie with his sister Kate, questioned Israel’s right to exist, claiming in a leaked Instagram post that the hostages taken by Hamas were “lucky they weren’t corpses.”

He later said he accepted being ‘cancelled’ and apologized for his comments.

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, which has since been dubbed ‘Israel’s September 11’.

In addition to the massacre of innocent civilians, almost 230 hostages were taken, including young children and the elderly. Only four have been released so far.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Palestine has surpassed 8,000 – the vast majority of them innocent civilians, including women and children, according to the latest update from Gaza’s Health Ministry.