AUSTRALIA: “AVNER’S,” a Sydney-based Jewish bakery, is shutting down after ‘two years of near constant anti-semitic harassment’

Mr Halmagyi sent a note to patrons and has it on the front of his store alerting them of the decision after two gunmen shot at a Channukah event at Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 15 victims and injuring another 40.

Mr Halmagyi told patrons his Surry Hills bagel shop Avner’s would be permanently shutting up shop in a flier stuck to the store front. “The world has changed. Our world has changed,” the statement read.

It follows Avner’s on Monday alerting Instagram followers the bakery would be closed on Tuesday “and possibly for a little longer” as the owners “try to make sense of the awful and mindless violence”.

Mr Halmagyi, who has a high public profile after a 20-year stint on the Seven Network’s Better Homes and Gardens, said the negative attention his business had attracted since opening early last year weighed on the bakery.

A threatening note was slid under the door of his Sydney bakery after it was vandalized with anti-Semitic inverted red triangle symbols used to identify Jewish targets by Hamas on Saturday night alongside a note that read “Be Careful”. 

The vandalism came as an Israeli flag was flying out the front of the shop from October 9 to the end of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur last Saturday, The Australian reported.

The chef, who had a 20-year stint on Better Homes and Gardens, chose not to scrub the symbol associated with the militant group, which Australia lists as a terrorist organiation, off his shop’s windowfront. “I thought about (taking the symbols down this morning), but I thought, that’s a very silly thing to do because people should know that this stuff happens,” he told The Australian.

(I’m) absolutely appalled by the anti-semitism (sic) in society today,” wrote one user.

Another penned: “To see this angers me. As an immigrant to Australia, I’ve relished living in a society that is diverse and inclusive. To see those that want to harm others based on religion, culture, or identity, is not allowed here.”

While many lashed out against the act of vandalism, some light-heartedly lauded the chef’s cooking skills and joked of the extra business he would receive. “Yes, be careful…your chocolate babka is dangerously addictive 😋 Stay strong,” one said.

Alongside commenters on Mr Halmagyi’s post, the vandalism also triggered outcry from the Anti-Defamation Commission’s chair Dvir Abramovich who reviled the hateful act. “This attack is a brutal reminder that antisemitism is not a ghost of the past, but a raging fire fuelled by the resurgence of terror and hate,” he said.

NSW Police confirmed the vandalism of Mr Halmagyi’s bakery in a statement to SkyNews.com.au.