The kosher restaurant HaCarmel on the Amstelveenseweg in Amsterdam will close its doors for good. The deceased owner’s son Sami Bar-On would continue the case, but it is “unfortunately more difficult for him than expected”. HaCarmel was in the news several times because of threats and vandalism.
“Despite the enormous need to continue HaCarmel for my father, Amsterdam and the Jewish community, this is unfortunately harder than expected for me,” writes Daniel Bar-On on the restaurant’s Instagram.
“Every day guests come in who have been here before and now ask if the lovely gentleman from the last time still works here. Every day there are guests who ask if I am the owner, which doesn’t feel like it because this is 22 years was my father’s business. That is why we have decided with pain in our hearts to close the business permanently.”
Sami Bar-on
Owner Sami Bar-On passed away in March at the age of 67 while on vacation in Israel. “Sami had a big heart,” said a family friend during the memorial† “He loved people. You didn’t go to HaCarmel, you went to Sami.”
Guests who want to come and eat at the restaurant again can do so until September 25. After that, the restaurant will close its doors for good. “A continuation of another Jewish/kosher restaurant is not the case,” says Bar-On.
Anti-Semitism
The kosher restaurant has been the target of anti-Semitism, vandalism and constant telephone threats in recent years. A suspicious package was found in January 2020. This turned out to be a fake bomb. Also in May that same year a window was smashed and the Israeli flag on the building was set on fire. The case has also been daubed several times and the threatening phone calls started since June last year.
But Sami Bar-on was never intimidated or chased away. The restaurant was his baby, Daniel said during the memorial. “The times something happened here, the shards were still on the ground and my father was ready to open again.”