In Austria, Israeli family says it was refused service over Jewish identity — Jerusalem Post

In Bad Hofgastein, Austria, an Israeli family said that a food establishment refused to serve them after they said they were Jewish. The Jerusalem Post reports, citing the Austrian outlet Krone.

Complaint to the authorities

According to Lidan H., who did not disclose his full name, he and his family entered the establishment after spending a day at Austria’s highest mountain. The owner asked where they had come from, and when the family said they were Jewish, he said he would not sell them anything.

Lidan H. did not engage in a confrontation with the vendor and contacted the district administration. It said it had launched administrative proceedings. In a comment to Krone, the establishment’s vendor called the allegations nonsense and declined to provide further explanations.

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Israeli Embassy’s response

The Israeli Embassy in Austria said in a post on X that it was deeply concerned by reports that an Israeli family had been denied food because of its identity. The diplomatic mission stressed that discrimination against Israelis, Jewish women and men is unacceptable.

The embassy also said that, according to available reports, similar incidents had already occurred with the same operator of the establishment, and called for concrete measures if explanations and warnings fail to produce results. Israel’s ambassador to Austria, David Roet, said that such cases cannot be completely separated from an environment in which antisemitism is becoming increasingly normalized.

The head of Austria’s Jewish community, Eli Rosen, told Krone that the situation regarding antisemitism in the country is worsening and that the number of individual incidents is increasing.