MIAMI BEACH, Fl— Esti Cohen and her friends were singing and dancing as Israeli music came on at Hasalon Restaurant in Miami Beach on November 25, proudly waving their Israeli flags when Cohen says their celebration was cut short.
“At one point, the music starts getting louder and they encourage people to get up and dance,” Cohen said.
“The manager came up to me after 10 seconds of being up and he said ‘you need to remove it,’” Cohen said. “I was shocked. I asked him why do we need to remove it?”
Cohen says the manager told them the restaurant didn’t want to be political.
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When others started waving their flag, she says the manager snatched them, then called police.
“We were all very very hurt,” Cohen said. “All our people our fighting a war. This is our war here. It’s the anti-semitism.”
Cohen says she started posting about it online and was contacted by the restaurant who she says apologized to her and told her the manager had been fired.
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She also says the owner of the restaurant Israeli celebrity chef Eyal Shani liked one of her Instagram stories about what happened.
Cohen says she believes the manager acted on his own.
We reached out to the restaurant for a statement but have not gotten a response.
“We’re definitely gonna go back with our Israeli flags proudly,” she said.
