Aussie celebrity chef Ed Halmagyi breaks his silence on antisemitic abuse he has suffered in the wake of Bondi terror attack: 'Vandalism, hate letters, busted windows'
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Ed Halmagyi has opened up about the years of antisemitic abuse he has experienced in the wake of the Bondi shootings.
Sixteen people, including children, are dead after two gunmen armed with rifles opened fire at the popular Eastern Suburbs beach on Sunday in an act of terrorism targeting a Hanukkah celebration.
Now, the Australian celebrity chef and Jewish Sydney local, lovingly known as Fast Ed, has admitted he feels 'stupid' for underestimating the 'building' threat against the Jewish community.
His own Surry Hills bakery, Avner's, has received written abuse, verbal abuse and vandalism weekly since opening in 2024.
'We have been five to six days a week subject to graffiti, vandalism, hate letters, busted windows – it goes on and on, for two years I've put up with this,' he told ABC Sydney radio host Chris Taylor.
The beloved baker sold 1000 doughnuts on Sunday to celebrate the Festival of Lights, but not before he was forced to face the sad truth about running an openly Jewish business.
Ed Halmagyi (pictured) has opened up about the years of antisemitic abuse he has experienced in the wake of the Bondi shootings
His own Surry Hills bakery, Avner's, has received written abuse, verbal abuse and vandalism weekly since opening in 2024
'The first thing I had to do was remove stickers from the outside of the business saying 'Jews kill babies' and 'go back to where you came from',' he candidly revealed.
Later on in the day, the abuse continued.
'Then … a guy drove past in his pick up with a couple of kids in the back seat … and spewed the most extraordinary bile at me and my staff in front of 40 or 50 customers who all witnessed it,' he shockingly revealed.
This isn't the first time the celebrity chef has shed light on the horrific treatment he has suffered because of his Jewish faith.
His popular inner-city bakery was defaced with shocking anti-Semitic graffiti, along with a threatening note reading 'be careful', in October last year.
Avner's Bakery was hit with the menacing attack, which saw someone paint an upside down red triangle onto the bakery's window with the note shoved under the door.
The triangle is a Nazi symbol that was used to mark out individuals in concentration camps and it has been used by terror group Hamas to identify Jewish targets.
The former TV chef and Better Homes and Gardens star revealed the shocking attack on his social media channels at the time.
His popular inner-city bakery was defaced with shocking anti-Semitic graffiti, along with a threatening note reading 'be careful', in October last year
The former TV chef and Better Homes and Gardens star revealed the shocking attack on his social media channels
'Being Jewish in Sydney, 2024 edition,' his Sunday morning post read.
'This note was shoved under the door of our bakery overnight.
'But the fact is, it's hard to be intimidated by inner-city middle-class Cosplay Radicals who graduated primary school without their pen license.'
But Halmagyi decided not to wash graffiti off the bakery window because 'people need to know' that it happened.
The bakery was open for business the next day, with customers drinking coffees in the sun with the triangle symbol still on display.
'The only reason I didn't take it down this morning … I thought about it, but I thought, that's a very silly thing to do because people should know that this stuff happens,' he told The Australian.
'The reaction of wanting to scrub it off immediately and pretend like it's not there. That implies two things. One, that it was effective, and made me feel somehow vulnerable.
'And it simultaneously says you're a victim of your circumstances. I'm not a victim,' he said.
