A group of holidaying Jewish Londoners have told how they were thrown out of a Greek taverna and branded ‘baby killers’ when they got into a row with the Gaza–supporting restaurateur.

The party, made up of three Jewish families, had been island hopping around the Aegean and had gone to a restaurant in Naxos for their evening meal when a row exploded.

Jude Lobb, 48, who works in public affairs, was dining with her husband Andrew, their two teenage daughters said they had initially enjoyed their evening at the Axiotissa Taverna on the holiday island.

But the problem started when one of the teenaged boys in the group went to the toilet and found the restaurant interior was plastered with stickers and posters – with at least one that read, ‘Boycott Israeli apartheid,’ she said.

A waitress came over and said one of her her party had tried to remove a poster or sticker and remonstrated with the group that this was unacceptable – and then the owner stormed over and joined in.

Ms Lobb said: ‘The waitress came over and I asked her why with all the problems going on in the world, they had picked on this one?

‘It was then that the owner came over, right to my face, and said: “Get the f*** out of my restaurant.”

Ms Lobb told The Daily Mail: ‘He shouted so loudly that other diners could hear: “They are Zionists! Zionists!….Get the f*** out of my restaurant”.’

Restaurant owner Giannis Vassilas told a group of Jewish holidaymakers to leave after one tried to remove a sticker reading ‘boycott Israeli apartheid’ from the premises

The group – made up of three families – had been dining together when the dispute broke out

The party did leave but the row continued.

‘As we left, we were jeered at by other people in the restaurant,’ Ms Lobb said.

‘The most awful thing about it was that they were clapping and jeering at us to go…I couldn’t believe what was happening.’

Nicola Gee, 50, who was part of the same party with her husband and two daughters, added: ‘They were shouting “Zionists” at us, and it was that public humiliation which was the most shocking thing.

‘It was like we had yellow stars from the Holocaust imprinted on us. That’s how it made me feel.’

The owner then followed the group of 13 out to the car park, along with several diners joining, shouting at them that they were ‘killing f***ing babies’ and ‘you support this genocide’.

Some of this was caught on camera by the English party who had begun filming him by this point.

As the party of 13 were leaving, the row continued in the restaurant’s car park where the gate to the car park had been locked, so the families couldn’t leave until they paid for dinner. In the end, the families paid the bill.

Ms Gee added: ‘We did think about calling the police, but then we were worried that the police would be on their side,’ says Nicola, who was with her husband Dan and daughters aged 18 and 16.

‘We just wanted to get out of there and leave. I was worried for our safety because there was so much shouting and screaming, and I didn’t know whether it would escalate even further. I just tried to get everyone in the car and go.’

Jude Lobb and her husband Andrew, who were among the diners told to leave the restaurant

Nicola Gee, who was part of the same party with husband Dan (both pictured), says she is concerned Jewish people will be singled out as the Israel-Hamas war continues

Ms Lobb said the hardest thing about the evening was the way it had affected her daughters.

‘One of my daughters was really upset and she tried to speak to the owner about the hostages – she asked him if he knew about Ariel and Kfir Bibas [the red–headed boys who were murdered while being held hostage in Gaza].

‘And he didn’t; he was just ignorant. She tried to ask him if he knew what a Zionist was and, again, he didn’t seem to know.

‘They didn’t care about any facts. When I asked them why this war was the only war they cared about, he couldn’t answer why.

‘We spend our whole lives learning about the history of antisemitism but to have something like this happen was just awful.’

Ms Gee says she is concerned this could be ‘a new normal’ for Jewish people as the Israel–Hamas war continues.

She explained: ‘I’ve got friends who are posting hatred about Israel consistently, and they don’t realise that a lot of what they are writing is false.

‘That is why it is essential that we stand up to it; it is important they can see what their posting is leading up to. It is spreading hatred and filtering into a little Greek taverna.’

Taverna Axiotissa has a 4.4 star rating on Google and a 4.2 star rating on TripAdvisor. Google has been inundated with ‘reviews’ criticising Mr Vassilas’ actions. 

When approached by the Daily Mail, the restaurant’s owners insisted they had done nothing wrong.

The taverna on Naxos, as viewed from the roadside. Its owners have defended their actions

Giannis Vassilas said: ‘Everything was fine until someone from the group decided to tear apart a small sticker that read, “Boycott Israel apartheid”, a statement that refers obviously to the appalling situation in Gaza.

‘That waitress who saw it told this person that he has no right to do it since it is private property.

‘One of the women from the group reacted quite intensely to our political public opinion about the genocidal practices and policies of the Israeli government.

‘She started yelling and shouting and accused us of being racist against Jews in general and that food is terrible.

‘We called her Zionist supporter of war crimes and also added that we are in support of the thousands of Israeli people who demonstrate almost every day against the fascist Israeli government’s policies and the hundreds of thousands of Jews all over the world who condemn these atrocities.

‘Just to clarify, in our 26 years of operation, we have often made public statements in the restaurant on local issues.

‘We frequently have been targeted for this but we strongly believe it is our right to do so. If one does not like this, they are free not to come or criticise us in a polite manner.

‘But when someone is aggressive and disrespectful to us and other employees and other customers – who applauded their departure – I think we have every right and reason to ask them to leave.’