No Conviction for Displaying Swastika at Pro-Palestine Protest

Prominent restauranteur Alan Yazbek pleaded guilty to displaying the Nazi symbol, but the magistrate accepted his ’regret.’

Pro-Palestine supporters march towards Flinders Street Station during an organised protest, in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 6, 2024. Diego Fedele/Getty Images

A magistrate has accepted that the owner of prominent Sydney and Melbourne restaurants was not a “neo-Nazi or right-wing extremist” and declined to convict him for holding an anti-Semitic sign at a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Oct. 6, on the anniversary of Hamas’ attack in 2023.

Alan Yazbek, co-owner of the Nomad Restaurant Group, pleaded guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol—a swastika—in place of the Star of David on a homemade sign that read “stop Nazi Israel” and featured the colours of the Israeli flag.