An uproar broke out at the “Axiotissa” taverna in Naxos on Monday, August 25, when a group of 13 Jews from London clashed with the restaurant owners over stickers and posters supporting Palestine and opposing Israel displayed inside the establishment.

The group reported the incident to the Daily Mail, saying that they consisted of three Jewish families on an Aegean island cruise who visited the taverna on Monday evening.

The trouble began when one of the teenage girls in the group went to the bathroom and noticed that the interior of the restaurant was covered with pro-Palestinian stickers and posters, some anti-Israel, including at least one that read “Boycott Israeli apartheid.”

“The waitress came over, and I asked her why, with all the problems in the world, they chose this issue,” said 48-year-old June Lobb to the British outlet. According to her, the waitress claimed that someone in their party had tried to remove a poster or sticker and scolded them that such behavior was unacceptable. At that point, the owner appeared and asked the group to leave.

“Then the owner came, right in front of me, and said: ‘Leave my restaurant.’ He shouted so loudly that the other customers could hear: ‘They’re Zionists! Zionists… Get out of my restaurant.’ As we were leaving, other diners mocked us. The most horrific part was that they clapped and jeered for us to leave. I couldn’t believe what was happening,” she added.

“They called us Zionists”

“They were calling us ‘Zionists,’ and that public humiliation was the most shocking thing. It felt as if we were wearing the yellow stars of the Holocaust. That’s how it felt,” said 50-year-old Nicola Guy, another member of the group.

They further alleged that the owner followed the 13 of them to the parking lot, along with several patrons, shouting at them that they were “killing babies” and “supporting genocide.” Part of the altercation was filmed by the group.

However, the group had not paid for their meal, which prolonged the dispute in the parking lot.

“We thought of calling the police, but then worried they would side with them. We just wanted to get out of there. I feared for our safety because there were so many shouts, and I didn’t know if the situation would escalate further. I just tried to get everyone in the car and leave,” said the 50-year-old.

The response from “Axiotissa”: They tore off the sticker and didn’t pay for their meal

The owner of the “Axiotissa” taverna shared his side of the story in a Facebook post:

“The right side of history is not a comfortable sofa in a quiet corner. It is a constant struggle for social justice and dignity, against the destructive policies of power and the horrors of war. That is exactly why we put up two stickers condemning the genocide in Palestine and the apartheid Israel has imposed on Gaza,” the post stated.

The post added that “a group of Britons considered it their right to tear down one of the stickers.”

“When we asked them why, one of the women in the group lost it! She started screaming at the other customers not to come back because we are racists against Jews. We replied that they are supporters of genocide and war criminals and that we support the mass protests of Israelis against the genocide. Later, with a quick Google search, it turned out that this woman was not just any British-Jewish tourist, but an official of an organization (ELNET) that promotes strategic military planning in Britain and meets with Netanyahu and Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant, as happened in September 2024, when they even went to Gaza.”

“And then they got up to leave — in a rage — but there was one detail: they hadn’t paid. The arguments continued in the parking lot until finally one of them came back in and settled the bill,” the restaurant said.

“We are receiving threats against our business and our family”

In the rest of the post, the owners said that after the Daily Mail report, there was a barrage of negative social media reviews from fake profiles, full of “slander and threats.”

“Since yesterday, Thursday, we have received emails and phone calls threatening our lives, our restaurant, and our family,” the business reported.

They then shared the full post online.