Bat Yam restaurant that hired IDF soldier's killer to close temporarily

Restaurant owner claims that Palestinian killer had legal working papers, denies ever employing illegal Palestinian workers.

By BEN HARTMAN
Restaurant where Tomer Hazan worked (photo credit: Aloni Mor, Israel-Post)
Restaurant where Tomer Hazan worked
(photo credit: Aloni Mor, Israel-Post)
The Bat Yam restaurant that employed the Palestinian man who murdered IDF soldier Tomer Hazan over the weekend will close for the coming week, the ownership announced on Sunday.
The came after a raucous demonstration outside the restaurant the night before.
In a banner hanging outside Tzachi Meats on Herzl Street in the center of the city on Sunday morning, the restaurant announced that they would take a week off in solidarity with the family, adding that they are in shock and pain.
The night before, a group of around a hundred locals had gathered outside the restaurant, calling for a boycott or worse of the restaurant, which had employed both Hazan and his killer, 42-year-old Nidal Amar.
The IDF confirmed Saturday that Amar had been working in Israel illegally, and that a request to enter Israel under the family reunification law was rejected.
Amar’s brother, a former Tanzim operative, is serving a 30-year-sentence in Hadarim Prison for his role in planning a suicide bombing.
But in a Facebook post on Saturday night, restaurant owner Tzahi Entebbe said that Amar had legal work documents, and denied ever employing illegal Palestinian laborers.
“We are already in pain over the boy who was murdered, please don’t add to this pain... I never employed illegal workers... Many people met Nidal and I am shocked that the Shin Bet, which gave him the permit, did not warn me that he had a brother in prison.”
He added: “My family and I are in shock, as is all of the crew of course. We all worked with Nidal every day, and he never showed any signs of hating Jews; the opposite, actually.”
An official with the Tel Aviv police said that Entebbe would be undergoing investigation at the Ramle headquarters of the police’s Serious Crimes Unit.