LONDON: The recent opening of a restaurant in Jordan called October 7 has sparked anger as a result of its perceived glorification of the date of the attacks by Hamas on Israel last year.
Video footage of the shawarma and pizza shop in the city of Kerak, which appeared to have initially appeared in a report by local news website Khaberni, was circulating widely on social media on Thursday. It shows staff wearing uniforms emblazoned with the name of the restaurant engaged in friendly conversation with a clearly excited person behind the camera.
The footage provoked a swift and angry reaction from Israeli authorities and the media in the country.
“The disgraceful glorification of October 7th has to stop,” opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid wrote in a message posted on social media platform X. He called on the Jordanian government to “condemn this publicly and unequivocally.”
In response to questions from Jordanian media organization Roya News, the restaurant owner, called Sarayrah, said it was named after the date on which his daughter had graduated from university in Algeria.
He criticized Israel, referring to it as a “fragile and weak state,” and authorities in the country for getting involved in disputes with restaurants and considering them an element of international relations.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said the name of the restaurant was antisemitic and indicative of deteriorating relations between Israel and Jordan. It added that it will exacerbate existing tensions between the countries and raises questions about the complexities of regional relations.
Some online commentators noted that other businesses in Palestine and Jordan have previously expressed anti-Jewish sentiments. A social media user highlighted reports from November last year that the Gosta Coffee shop in the Jordanian city of Zarka was serving a drink called “HolaGosta,” said to be a reference to the Nazi genocide of Jews during the Second World War.
