Israeli booted from Berlin restaurant over his accent, according to lawsuit

Israeli man sues Arab-owned Berlin restaurant after he was allegedly kicked out after waiter heard his Israeli accent.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli man has filed a discrimination lawsuit against a Berlin restaurant, alleging that a waiter refused to serve him and ordered him to leave after hearing him pronounce the word “hummus” with a Hebrew accent.

The incident allegedly occurred in mid-February at a Palestinian restaurant in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, where the man had gone to eat with his girlfriend. The restaurant has not been publicly identified.

According to the man’s account, the confrontation began when he attempted to order hummus. The waiter objected to his pronunciation and allegedly told him: “Chummus is an Israeli word. This is a Palestinian place; we say hummos.”

The customer then identified himself as Israeli and asked whether that was why the waiter did not want to serve him. The employee allegedly replied, “Then please don’t,” while gesturing toward the door.

Ofek, a German organization that assists people affected by antisemitic violence and discrimination, said the waiter subsequently attributed a pro-Israel political position to the customer solely because of his national and ethnic background.

The organization is supporting the Israeli in a civil claim filed with the Berlin-Mitte Local Court under Germany’s General Equal Treatment Act, commonly known by its German abbreviation, AGG. Contrary to some initial reporting, the case was filed with the local court rather than Berlin’s higher regional court.

The law prohibits discrimination based on ethnic origin, religion and several other protected characteristics in publicly available goods and services, including restaurants. The plaintiff is seeking compensation for what Ofek describes as discrimination based on his ethnic background.

Before filing suit, the man submitted a discrimination complaint directly to the restaurant, according to Ofek. After receiving no response, an attorney contacted the establishment and requested an apology on his behalf. The restaurant reportedly did not answer that request either and did not respond to a request for comment from the German newspaper taz.

“My girlfriend and I just wanted to eat hummus,” the plaintiff said.

He described being expelled because of his accent and background as deeply humiliating, adding that the incident was especially painful because he believed food should bring people together rather than become a basis for exclusion.

Ofek Executive Director Marina Chernivsky said the case reflected a broader pattern of Israelis and Jews being excluded from parts of German social life since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the war that followed.

Chernivsky said antisemitism restricts Jews’ ability to participate equally in society through both open hostility and less visible forms of discrimination. She added that Ofek had recently advised people in seven Berlin cases involving denial of access to or exclusion from services.

The organization said pursuing such claims in court remains difficult because victims face significant practical barriers when attempting to enforce anti-discrimination protections.

Ofek offers multilingual psychological, social and legal assistance to people affected by antisemitism, including advice on claims under Germany’s federal and Berlin state anti-discrimination laws.

The lawsuit comes amid continued concern over antisemitism in the German capital. Berlin’s Research and Information Center on Antisemitism, known as RIAS Berlin, documented 2,197 antisemitic incidents in 2025.

That figure was approximately 13% lower than in 2024 but remained more than twice the average annual level recorded before October 2023. The incidents included one case of extreme violence, 39 attacks, 63 acts of targeted property damage and 41 threats.

“Antisemitic incidents have become entrenched at a new level since Oct. 7, 2023,” RIAS representative Julia Kopp said when the figures were released.

Most of the documented cases fell into the category of abusive behavior, which includes insults, discriminatory encounters, graffiti, stickers and online harassment. Jewish community representatives said anti-Israel activism had become the most common context for incidents recorded in the city.

Berlin authorities separately recorded 2,268 antisemitic criminal offenses in 2025, reporting another increase in police cases. Officials said the rise partly reflected more consistent recording of complaints arising both from protests connected to the Middle East conflict and from incidents in everyday life and online.

The hummus dispute also bears similarities to an October 2025 incident at a left-wing café in Berlin’s Neukölln district. An Israeli man and his partner said they were expelled after a staff member noticed a shirt bearing the word “falafel” in Hebrew, Arabic and Latin lettering.

The café employee allegedly said she did not serve Zionists and described Hebrew as the language of an oppressor. The establishment later disputed that Hebrew itself had prompted the couple’s removal, arguing that it objected to what it called the shirt’s cultural and political implications.