Israeli Restaurant in Lisbon Closes After Sustained Antisemitic Campaign

A well-known Israeli restaurant in Lisbon will close permanently this Saturday, January 10, after years of sustained antisemitic targeting that intensified following the October 7, 2023 attacks. The owners of Tantura say the pressure made it impossible to continue operating.

Tantura, founded a decade ago by chef couple Elad Budenshtiin and Itamar Eliyahu, had become a fixture of Lisbon’s food scene, celebrated for its Israeli “melting pot” cuisine and open, communal atmosphere. But the owners say a steady campaign of harassment including graffiti, online defamation, hostile activism and boycotts, ultimately forced their hand.

“There were issues here and there even years ago, and questions about the name when we opened,” the owners said. “But in the past three years, and clearly since October 7, it became unbearable.”

The European Jewish Congress expressed deep concern about the closure, calling it a troubling sign for Jewish and Israeli life in parts of Europe. “That a cultural and culinary space dedicated to bringing people together has been driven out of business by hate is a troubling reflection of the climate facing Jewish and Israeli life,” the group said, adding that such actions “went far beyond political expression” and amounted to discrimination with “real and damaging consequences.”

According to the owners, the campaign escalated immediately after the war began. On October 8, 2023, a small protest appeared outside the restaurant, distributing postcards attempting to link the restaurant’s name to events from Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. From there, the pressure mounted.

“Against the backdrop of the war and the alarming rise in antisemitism worldwide, we found ourselves facing a painful reality,” the owners said. “Graffiti smeared on the restaurant walls, the blackening of our good name online, hostile campaigns and an actual boycott. Slowly, the place that was meant to be a space of connection and joy turned into an arena of daily struggle.”

The harassment became increasingly invasive. Graffiti appeared repeatedly on the exterior, and later inside the restaurant’s bathrooms. Online activists circulated photos of the owners alongside their names, placing Tantura at the top of lists labeled “Zionist businesses.” The impact was immediate and severe.

“We went from hosting around 100 people an evening to just 20 diners a day,” they said. “From a popular restaurant packed night after night, we became a rejected and empty place.”

In June 2024, the restaurant’s walls and windows were vandalized with slogans including “Tantura is a massacre” and “Free Palestine,” an act claimed by the Collective for the Liberation of Palestine. The group alleged a massacre took place in the coastal village of Tantura in 1948, claims the owners reject as a distortion weaponized against their business.

Tantura never hid its Israeli identity. On the contrary, it embraced it. “We opened a restaurant. We called it Tantura, the name of one of the most beautiful beaches in Israel, where we got married,” the owners said. “We are not politicians. We are living in a country we love, bringing people and cultures together through food.”

They described the restaurant as “a large living room with an open table,” a home for locals, tourists and Israelis alike. Over the years, Tantura earned glowing reviews, media profiles and even a dedicated episode on an Israeli culinary documentary series.

But online attacks followed as well. The owners say fake negative reviews flooded travel and review platforms, depressing the restaurant’s ratings despite appeals to have the content removed.

“The decision to close Tantura is one of the hardest we’ve ever made,” they said. “After so much soul, work and love, it’s hard to accept that the space that became our home, and through which we tried to introduce the world to Israeli culture is closing.”

As Tantura prepares to shut its doors for the last time, Jewish leaders are urging authorities to take such cases seriously. “Antisemitism, whether expressed through vandalism, intimidation or organized campaigns, has no place in Europe and must be confronted decisively,” the European Jewish Congress said.