Explosions lightly damaged an Israeli restaurant in the German city of Munich early Friday, in what police there say may have been an antisemitic attack.
Footage from the scene of Eclipse Grillbar, which the police did not name, show broken windows, including one with a menorah behind it. No one was injured in the incident, which took place after the restaurant closed for the night.
The restaurant’s owners are Jewish and police are investigating whether the attack was motivated by antisemitism, they told the German news agency dpa.
The incident adds to a flurry of explosions, all causing minimal damage, at Jewish and Israeli sites across Europe since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, which watchdogs say may have triggered Iranian sleeper cells to act. The German government, which has long offered special support for Israel, has opposed the war.
Eclipse Grillbar bills itself as “the first authentic Israeli restaurant in Munich” and has operated in the city’s university district for nearly two decades. Its menu includes classic Israeli fare such as falafel and hummus as well as dishes familiar to Jews from the former Soviet Union, who make up the majority of Jews in Germany. Owner Ben Malenboym was born in Belarus and moved to Israel at 12 with his family in the late 1980s before landing in Munich as an adult.
“My restaurant inspires a desire to visit Israel, and I’m sure there are quite a few Germans who have decided to travel there someday,” Malenboym told Germany’s main Jewish newspaper in 2014. “Many have eaten hummus for the first time in their lives here. They seem to have enjoyed it. In any case, they keep coming back.”
Supporters of the restaurant are planning to rally outside the damaged building on Friday afternoon. “The attack was cowardly. And it was not only against a restaurant, but against what it stands for,” said Guy Katz, an Israeli professor at a Munich University who advocates against antisemitism, posted on Instagram.
Displaying a picture of Eclipse’s patched-up window, Katz added, “Antisemitism must have no place. Not here. Not today. Not at all.”
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