Zionists Are Not Welcome Here!

Part One of a series on anti-Zionist boycotts around the world.

When Nives Monda, the owner of Taverna Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy, asked Israeli tourists Geluah and Raul Moses to leave her restaurant on 3 May 2025, footage of the incident went viral. Controversy raged, as Monda was accused of antisemitism..

The clip, widely shared by the Israeli tourists, shows Mrs Moses shouting at Mrs Monda, accusing her of being a “terrorism supporter” and asking, “Is 2000 years of persecution not enough for you?”

When Mrs Monda responds, “Zionists are not welcome here,” Mrs Moses continues to accuse the restaurateur of being a “terror supporter,” an “antisemite” and a “Jew hater.” Both of the Israeli couple say “We are not afraid of you,” as if being threatened.

The clip ends with Mrs Monda asking the couple to leave and saying they don’t have to pay. They respond, “No problem, we will not pay!”

Mrs Monda repeats “Zionists are not welcome here,” and something not fully coherent in the clip, about “over 50,000 people are killed,” in the genocide in Gaza.

A longer clip shows the Israeli tourists talking to a Spanish family at the next table. Many social media commentators reported the story as though the family are the “Israeli family” thrown out of the restaurant. In fact, the Spanish family did scurry to leave after Mrs Moses launched her attack on the restaurant owner, as they clearly did not want to be a part of the scene.

The supplementary clip starts with Mrs Monda telling the Israelis she is “very proud of” her support for Palestinians as Mrs Moses calls her a “terrorist supporter.”

“I can’t feed Zionists in my restaurant while they’re starving Palestinian children.”

According to Mrs Monda, what transpired that Saturday lunchtime was that the Israeli tourists, after finishing their multi-course meal, began speaking to the Spanish family about where they were visiting from. Mrs Moses shared she is from Israel, telling the Spanish woman it is peaceful and safe country. Following this, Mrs Monda said the discussion between the two tables became heated when the word “genocide” was mentioned in response to the claim that Israel is a peaceful country.

At this point, Mrs Monda intervened, telling the Israeli tourists she is opposed to apartheid and supports the Palestinian people suffering a genocide. Mrs Moses responded that she is a Zionist, which Ms Monda said she opposed.

Mrs Monda says she never used the words ‘Jew,’ or even ‘Israeli’ when addressing the tourists.

Following the incident, the Israelis filed a complaint with local police, claiming they were subject to discrimination based on their nationality, telling Italian media they were visiting the country to celebrate Mrs Moses completing her PhD.

Mrs Moses reported that she was chatting to the tourists next to her in the resaurant, when out of nowhere, Mrs Monda screamed “genocide” at her and her husband. When asked if she saw the pro-Palestine posters in the restaurant before entering, she said no, but that the owner showed Gaza Cola was for sale to customers.

According to Mrs Moses’ testimony, she texted a friend about the restaurant, who apparently sent her a social media post by Mrs Monda celebrating the October 7 Palestinian resistance operation, which led Mrs Moses to conclude that the restaurant owner “seemed to me the type of person that hates Jews,” adding, “Europe tried this once. Never again starts with never again at lunch.”

Mrs Moses also claimed that her husband had paid for the meal, despite admitting on their own footage “…we will not pay.”

After going viral, the clip generated a lot of attacks and threats from Zionists, including threats that the restaurant would lose its licence, be set on fire, as well as threats to rape or kill its owner. Mrs Monda reported that some of the milder attacks she received were fictional complaints that the food made customers sick.

Zionist media responded with its typical hysteria and claims of victimhood based on racism. One report complained of a growing boycott of Zionists, where everyday people were taking it upon themselves to show Zionists they are not welcome. The Times of Israel referred to this as a “micro-pogrom,” and “BDS with espresso,” in reference to the Boycott and Divestment Movement (BDS) against Israel, calling it “a European movement that openly invites business to ban Israelis and their ‘complicity’ from the public square.”

Mrs Monda’s restaurant is a supporter of the BDS movement and amongst over 400 “associations, unions, movements, productive and commercial activities, social and cultural centers, popular sports teams and other spaces,” that form the cultural boycott of the movement in Italy, under the banner: “Free Spaces from Israeli Apartheid.”

After the hysteria on social media, the Italian municipality responded by apologising to the Israeli tourists. Tourism Councillor Teresa Armato invited the couple out for coffee and pastries on behalf of Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, who waived fees for the couple’s excursions around Naples as compensation. They also received support from local police and free access to Mount Vesuvius was granted by the municipality of Ercolano. They were even received for dinner by the Honorary President of the Italy-Israel Association Giuseppe Crimaldi at the historic Piazza Vanvitelli.

Meanwhile, the head of the Campania Regional Council Severino Nappi called to close down Mrs Monda’s restaurant.

Mrs Monda did receive support from former chamber of deputies president Laura Boldrini, who visited the restaurant and said accusations of antisemitism are typical whenever condemning Israeli crimes, adding that it is “people like Nives who keep the bar of humanity high, a humanity that far too many have completely lost.”

As the news flooded Italian media, activists from the Donne in Nero (Women in Black) collective in the city of Bari, on the Adriatic Coast, said they recognised Mrs Moses and her husband from the week before the incident.

Donne in Nero activists gather every Saturday morning at the Church of San Ferdinando, wearing black to mourn in silence against the genocide. They reported being harassed by Mrs Moses, to the consternation of activists and passersby alike.

Grazia Strisciulli, a member of Donne in Nero Bari, reports that Mrs Moses harangued their protest.

When I contacted Strisciulli, she told me her weekly action was subject to “serious intimidation” by the tourists. Mrs Moses, was “acting frantically” and shouting that their action "was supporting terrorism," and doing “propaganda for Hamas,” all while Mr Moses filmed, “particularly focusing on the faces of all the demonstrators,” in an attempt to intimidate them, while ignoring all requests to stop.

Strisciulli said her group were unshaken but “deeply shocked,” by this behaviour. She explained that the Donne in Nero movement is borne out of a “shared desire of a group of Israeli and Palestinian women to put an end to war.”

The couple were eventually asked to leave by a participant of their collective, while Mrs Moses continued to yell obscenities. The activists reported the couple to Italian police.

This incident and that at the restaurant left Strisciulli and her fellow activists to wonder if the Israeli tourists had set out purposefully to disrupt pro-Palestinian activism and solidarity in Italy, with one academic researcher questioning whether Mrs Moses was visiting for her stated reason of celebrating completion of her PhD, saying he could not find an “academic profile” for Mrs Moses.

Others on social media raised suspicion about these coincidental events. One spoke of the Israeli government sending bilingual Israelis abroad to create hasbara - pro-Israel propaganda - for the state.

Outrage built in Naples at not only the actions of the Israeli tourists, but the response of Italian authorities which refused to listen to the restaurant owner’s side of the incident and conflated her anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

Protests were held in defence of Mrs Monda at Naples city hall, the Palazzo San Giacomo, where thousands attended to show solidarity, carrying signs which read “Zionists Not Welcome Here” and demanding the resignation of the mayor and tourism councillor. A solidarity sit-in was also held outside Mrs Monda’s restaurant.

(Photo from Dalaine @Daline_Dee_99)

The case against Mrs Monda, filed by these Zionist tourists, has since been dismissed due to the lack of evidence for racism, and the mayor subsequently felt compelled to meet with the restaurant owner in an act of reconciliation.

Mrs Monda, when asked what message she would like to send out following the incident, said she hopes that the solidarity she has experienced will be passed onto the Palestinian people.

Many on social media also rushed to Mrs Monda’s defence and the restaurant has experienced a spike in demand as well as over 100,000 followers on one social media account. One local supporter reported:

I managed to get a booking for lunch tomorrow, but they’ve gotten so much more business since that video went viral that she [Mrs Monda] couldn’t even guarantee me a table…so they can’t even keep up, which is great. They put a note on their front door explaining what happened in both English and Italian and how they don’t tolerate apartheid settler-colonial racists in their restaurant…so free Palestine, fuck the Zionists, let them eat their Italian food in Israel.