The high-profile restaurateur who held up a Nazi symbol during a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney earlier this year has avoided a conviction after he expressed remorse and a magistrate accepted he was not an anti-Semite.
Alan Yazbek, 56, was sentenced in the Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to displaying a corflute bearing a swastika at a protest in Sydney on October 6.
The protest was the subject of a high-visibility police operation amid heightened tensions one day before the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on southern Israel.
Yazbek, the co-owner of the Nomad Restaurant Group, was photographed displaying a sign with a swastika superimposed on the Israeli flag.
Alan Yazbek pleaded guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol. Picture: NewsWire/Simon Bullard.
In October he entered a plea of guilty to one count of knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol without a reasonable excuse.
On Tuesday, Yazbek’s barrister Phillip English tendered a bundle of emails sent to him in the wake of the incident.
“I’m not supposed to feel sorry for him, am I?” magistrate Miranda Moody said of Yazbek before asking if people were “insulting him” for his conduct.
“’I’m not asking Your Honour to feel sorry for him,” Mr English replied but asked her to take the material into account.
Mr English tendered a letter of apology from Yazbek as well as references from Jewish friends.
The court was told his case was the third of its kind since the laws were introduced in August 2022.
Ms Moody described Yazbek’s conduct as “extremely foolish” but said she accepted he was not a neo-Nazi, a right-wing extremist or anti-Semitic.
She read portions of a letter of contrition written by Yazbek, noting he was “deeply remorseful”.
Yazbek holds up a sign with a swastika during the October protest. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw
“He regrets every minute of that day and his conduct,” Ms Moody said.
She also said Yazbek would have had serious fears for his protection and that of his family considering the vitriol that had been levelled at him, labelling it “truly horrifying”.
She said he had used the incident to educate himself, also noting that he had a clean criminal history.
Ms Moody did not record a conviction against Yazbek and sentenced him to a 12-month conditional release order.
According to documents tendered to the court, Yazbek was part of the protest that marched through the Sydney CBD.
About 1.30pm, he was seen by officers near the Archibald Memorial Fountain at the northern end of Hyde Park, holding a large white corflute, which displayed the words “Stop Nazi Israel”, above his head.
Officers activated their body-worn camera and approached him, telling them the swastika was illegal to display in public.
He was ‘deeply remorseful’, the court was told. Picture: Facebook
No conviction was recorded. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.
According to a set of agreed facts, Yazbek replied “what’s the offensive symbol?”
He then told the officers it was an “Israeli swastika” before he was ordered to stop displaying it.
Yazbek initially became argumentative; however, he complied and put the sign away, according to the court documents.
Minutes later he was escorted out of the protest by organisers before he was placed under arrest.
He and his wife own up-market Nomad restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne as well as Reine & La Rue, which employs about 250 staff.
The incident prompted a harsh backlash against the restaurant group and earlier this year Yazbek issued a public statement apologising, saying he was not an anti-Semite.
His “furious” wife and business partner Rebecca released a statement announcing Yazbek was “no longer involved in the management of the business”.