Condé Nast Traveler has just run a piece on little known “food destinations” that deserve to be better known. One such place that Condé Nast drew to readers’ attention was Nazareth, Israel. A report on how Condé Nast covered that unsung destination, and its restaurants, is here: “Weaponizing Food: How Condé Nast Transformed an Israeli City Into a Palestinian Town,” by Gidon Ben-Zvi, Algemeiner, July 21, 2022:
Condé Nast, the global media conglomerate that owns Vogue and The New Yorker, published a piece this month, titled “The Unsung Food Destinations to Travel for Now,” which completely severs the connection between the city of Nazareth and the country where it’s located: Israel.
Nazareth is nowhere identified as being a city in Israel; instead, the article informs its readers that it is part of “Palestine.” Five seconds of searching would have informed the writers at Condé Nast that Nazareth is in Israel; they couldn’t spare the time.
Meanwhile, the Condé Nast Traveler feature deems the inhabitants of this Biblical town, associated in the New Testament as the home of the boyhood Jesus, as “Palestinian.”
But they are not “Palestinians.” They are Israeli Arabs. And very glad to be such.
“The story, which purports to explore some of the great local food and flavors from around the world, portrays Nazareth this way:
“…where Palestinian cooks, bakers, and producers proudly continue centuries-old traditions. At Elbabour, neighbors thumb earthy za’atar and tangy sumac, while at Almashedawi Bakery, regional staples like labneh and bitter greens are tucked into flatbread fresh from the taboon. And…skilled home cooks help the chefs at Luna Arabic Bistro turn out maqluba, an elaborate Palestinian dish of meat and rice—perfectly capturing a city where community and tradition are always on the table.
They are not “Palestinian” cooks, bakers, and producers. They are Israeli Arabs. Condé Nast should have made this clear: “where Israeli Arab cooks, bakers, and producers…” But its writers were determined to claim the city, its inhabitants, and its cuisine for “Palestine.”
Yet this is how the Elbabour restaurant on its website describes its culinary offerings:
“…a family business, lovingly handed down from generation to generation. Jarjoura and Tony Kanaza are the brothers who currently operate the Mill. They’re driven by the desire to promote a culture of authentic spices, based on the healthy, natural, and diverse Nazarethian-Galilean-Christian cuisine.”
Let’s stop right there. The owners and chief cooks at Elbabour, the Kanaza brothers, do not describe their cuisine as “Palestinian” on their website. They call it, rather, “Nazarethian-Galilean-Christian cuisine.” From Nazareth, in the Galilee, and they insist, Christian – not Muslim – cuisine. Why wasn’t their own description of their cuisine contained in the article, rather than the tendentious “Palestinian”?
Similarly, Luna Arabic Bistro owner Luna Zreik has frequently cited her “Christian Arab household” as the inspiration for her much-talked-about eatery.
The owner of Luna Arabic Bistro believes — is on record as repeatedly insisting — that it is her “Christian Arab household” that provided the inspiration, and perhaps even the recipes, for the food she now prepares.
Why didn’t Condé Nast in either case — Elbabour and Luna Arabic Bistro — mention that the owners and cooks were Christians, not Muslims, that they were Israeli Arabs, not Palestinians, and that they lived in the Israeli city of Nazareth?
Regarding the Almashedawi Bakery, a visit to the Nazareth municipality website reveals a host of recommended establishments for those with a sweet tooth. Nowhere on this page is the word “Palestinian” used.
These inhabitants of Nazareth clearly don’t want anyone to mistake them for “Palestinians.” They are perfectly content Israeli Arabs, citizens of Israel, with no desire to join the PA.
The anecdotal evidence above is indicative of a new reality. Data shows that most Arabs in Israel today self-identify primarily as “Israeli Arab” or “Israeli.” In fact, the Pluralism Index last year recorded a sharp decline in the number of people in Israel who consider their primary identity to be “Palestinian.”
Is this increase in self-identifying as Israeli Arabs a surprise? The Israeli Arabs can see what is going on in the PA territories – the corruption and mismanagement, the lack of free speech (see the beating death of Nizar Banat), the absence of democracy (no elections in 17 years), the grand theft of donors’ aid by the PA’s highest officials, including the execrable Mahmoud Abbas, with his colossal fortune, the rampant nepotism, which provides well-paid government jobs to the relatives of Abbas’ loyalists.
The survey asked respondents to rate how much they agree with the phrase “I feel like a real Israeli.” Most Arabs responded that they either agree completely (65%) or somewhat agree (33%) with the statement.
98% of Israeli Arabs in the poll agree completely or somewhat with the statement that they feel “like real Israelis.” It’s an astonishing number, a real vote of confidence by Israeli Arabs in Israeli society and their place in it. They do not feel marginalized or alienated. How many Americans, one wonders, would “agree completely or somewhat” with the statement that “I feel like a real American”?
Condé Nast has thus lumped Israel’s largest minority in with their Arab Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. But a quick check of any map shows that the city is located in Galilee, north of the West Bank and well inside the so-called Green Line.
Why did the Condé Nast writers choose to group these Israeli Arabs, many of them Christian, who are proud both of their identity and their Israeli citizenship, in with the Palestinians in the PA-ruled territories of the West Bank? Did no one realize that these were Israeli Arabs? Were they ignorant, or deliberately trying to obscure that fact?
One may want to dismiss the inclusion of Nazareth and the exclusion of Israel — even though every other city cited in Condé Nast Traveler’s list also correctly lists its location country — as a simple case of sloppy journalism. The problem with that assumption is that Condé Nast subsidiaries have in recent months made a concerted effort to undermine Israel’s legitimacy.
It was inexcusable not to identify those Israeli Arab chefs as Christians, as they had gone out of their way to refer to their cooking as rooted in “Christian households”(Luna Arab Bistro) or “Nazarethian-Galilean-Christian cuisine” (Elbabour). Why strip them of their religious identity, especially when they themselves took pains to attribute their cooking to their religious background?
Infidel says
Middle Eastern – particularly Arab Christians – need to determine whether their Judeophobia is more important than their survival. If Israel were to hypothetically cease to exist, the existence of those Christians in Nazareth would become as pathetic as their condition in Bethlehem
gravenimage says
Not all Arab Christians hate Jews–but there is enormous pressure from surrounding Muslims to say so.
Andrew Blackadder says
I dont know anybody that reads that piece of trash magazine, I certainly dont and now I never will, even if its in the Dentist Office.
Keith O says
I have, in the past done a couple of searches for hotels, eatery’s and other small places in Israel on a couple of travel sites and was disgusted by how many were listed as “Palestinian” one review even lamented the “fact” that the brutal occupation forces,,, blah blah blah.
Took me a couple of days to go through and report those reviews as misleading and hate speech. One or two have since been pulled.
gravenimage says
How Condé Nast Covered the Israeli Arab Restaurants in Nazareth, Israel
………………………….
Possibly ignorance–but more likely hatred of Israel and antisemitism.
James Lincoln says
“Condé Nast” includes in its publications the left-leaning “The New Yorker”.
Just sayin’…