Israelis in Austria denied service for being Jews, Israel embassy calls it 'concerning' - report

An Israeli family was denied service at a restaurant in Bad Hofgastein, a town in Austria located in the Gastein Valley of Salzburg, because they were Jewish, Austrian newspaper Krone reported on Sunday.

According to the statements made by Lidan H. (who didn't share his identity to preserve anonymity), he and his family approached the restaurant in the Austrian town after a day visiting the country's highest mountain.

The owner, who is reportedly Muslim, asked the family where they were from and told them that they would not be able to buy anything from him once they revealed that they were Jews. "Because we are Jewish, that's exactly what he told us," H. told the newspaper.

The report further mentions that H. decided not to confront the seller, and instead complained about the situation to the district administration, which said that it had "initiated administrative penalty proceedings."

The newspaper reached the snack bar vendor, who said that the allegations were "all nonsense," and declined to further comment on the situation.

Elie Rosen, head of the Jewish community in Austria, told Krone that the antisemitism situation in the country was getting worse every day. “There are more and more isolated incidents,” Rosen said.

“I can no longer listen to these platitudes about antisemitism and how terrible it all is. Now we need more than regretful and empty words," he added, complaining about the lack of response by the Austrian government to the situation.

Israel deeply concerned about the reports

"We are deeply concerned about reports that an Israeli family in Salzburg was denied food because of their identity. Discrimination against Israelis, Jewish women, and Jewish men is unacceptable," said the Israeli embassy in Austria in a Twitter/X post.

"According to reports, there have already been incidents with the same operator in the past. If clarification, warnings, and statements do not have an effect, concrete measures must follow," they added.

"These incidents cannot be viewed entirely in isolation from a climate in which antisemitism is increasingly normalized and false accusations against Israel are all too often left unchallenged. Families and children bear the consequences," Israel's Ambassador to Austria, David Roet, added.