Jewish-themed Sydney bakery closes, citing antisemitic threats, safety fears

After Hanukkah Bondi attack and 2 years of harassment and threats, TV personality Ed Halmagyi says he’s shutting down Avner’s, warning that openly Jewish places aren’t safe

A Jewish-owned bakery in Sydney announced Wednesday that it is closing down due to near-constant antisemitic harassment and fears for staff and customers in the wake of the deadly mass shooting targeting a Hanukkah event at the city’s Bondi Beach.

Ed Halmagyi, a Jewish celebrity chef who owns Avner’s Bakery in the Surry Hills section of Sydney, said he was shutting the establishment after two years of being subject to threats and vandalism, including since Sunday’s attack, and reportedly told patrons he feared the eatery could be targeted by those seeking to “globalize” Palestinian terror.

“The world has changed. Our world has changed,” declared a poster displayed Wednesday in the window of the bakery, which sold bagels, babkas and other Jewish-themed foods.

“After two years of almost ceaseless antisemitic harassment, vandalism and intimidation directed at our little bakery, we have to be realistic about the threats that exist going forward,” the Avner’s announcement continued.

“Those concerns are now clearly more pressing and more serious. Even in the wake of this terrorist incident, threats have continued.”

Australia’s Jewish community has been reeling since two gunmen opened fire on a Chabad-hosted Hanukkah event at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 15 people.

Australian officials say the shooters were motivated by ISIS, but Jewish officials have linked the massacre to a rising tide of antisemitism since the outbreak of the war against Hamas in Gaza, saying authorities have done little to stem the hate.

“In the wake of the pogrom at Bondi, one thing has become clear — it is no longer possible to make outwardly, publicly, proudly Jewish places and events safe in Australia,” the poster read. “And so, we have made the only decision available, one that truly breaks our hearts. Avner’s is closed.”

On Monday, the bakery had announced in a post on Instagram that it would be closed for a few days, “and possibly for a little longer” as the owners “try to make sense of the awful and mindless violence.”

Halmagyi is famous for his 20-year run as a chef on the Seven Network’s Better Homes and Gardens.

Known as “Fast Ed,” he is proudly Jewish and often posts videos of himself on social media talking about Jewish holidays. He opened the bakery in 2023.

Sky News Australia reported that in addition to the poster in the bakery, Halmagyi also sent a personal note to patrons.

In it, he said the attacks on his bakery were “the philosophy of the second intifada, where pizzerias, clubs, playgrounds and cafes were the most common targets,” a reference to a violent Palestinian uprising in 2000-2005 that was marked by terror attacks and bombings that killed over 1,000 Israelis. Over 3,100 Palestinians were killed during the same period by Israeli security forces.

“Businesses like these will be part of whatever happens next, now that performative and hateful calls to ‘globalise the intifada’ have been realised,” he wrote.

The phrase, a popular chant among some pro-Palestinian activists, is denounced by critics as a call to attack Israelis and Jews all over the world.

In October the bakery called the police over threatening phone calls that included antisemitic comments to the owner, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported.

An investigation led to a 17-year-old boy being called into the local police station on Wednesday morning under the Youth Offenders Act. Police said that inquiries were still ongoing.

The bakery was also vandalized in October 2024 with inverted red triangles and a note, “Be Careful,” pushed under the door. The inverted triangle is used by Hamas in propaganda videos to show the targeting of victims in attacks on Israelis.

“Being Jewish in Sydney, 2024 edition,” Halmagyi wrote in a post he shared at the time on Instagram.