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Argentine fast food restaurant drops ‘Anne Frank’ and ‘Adolf’ menu items after backlash from Jewish community
(JTA) — A fast food restaurant in Argentina has apologized after naming a hamburger on its menu “Anne Frank” and giving french fries the name “Adolf.”
Jewish organizations in Rafaela, a city more than 300 miles north of Buenos Aires where the Honky Donky restaurant is located, condemned its menu’s nomenclature. On Tuesday, the organized Jewish community of Rafaela announced on Facebook that it would pursue legal action.
“In light of the fact that a fast-food place in our city has trivially used the names of Anne Frank and Adolf to identify their products, the Jewish Community of Rafaela expresses its repulsion and indignation,” the group said in a statement.
According to reports in Argentine media, the menu items’ names might have put the restaurant in violation of Argentina’s anti-discrimination law, which prohibits discrimination based on a range of factors, including race, religion and nationality. The law carries penalties including fines and possible prison time.
On Tuesday, following the backlash and legal threats, Honky Donky removed its cheddar, bacon and green onion “Adolf” fries from the menu, and also renamed the “Anne Frank” burger — which featured tomato, pickles, lettuce and mayo on a beef patty. That item is now called the “Anne Boleyn” burger, after the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII who was beheaded due to allegations of treason and infidelity.
Honky Donky also issued an apology on its Instagram story, an account which the restaurant has since made private. “Irony and cynicism do not fit” in all cases, the restaurant said in the statement posted on Tuesday.
“From our gastronomic venture we apologize for the offense and the lack of sense of responsibility for the misuse of names that refer to open wounds in Humanity as a whole,” the restaurant said.
Honky Donky’s statement added that the situation has “helped us to reflect in depth on the unacceptable trivialization of the unspeakable pain of millions of people victims of a machinery of death and extermination such as totalitarianism.”
Hitler is not the only dictator to be represented on Honky Donky’s menu. As of Tuesday, it also featured “Benito” fries, named for Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator; the “Gengis” for Genghis Khan, the Mongolian emperor; and the “Mao” for Mao Zedong, the Chinese communist dictator.
The Jewish Community of Rafaela had been aware of Honky Donky’s menu items since March, Ariel Rosenthal, a member of the board of directors, told the local publication InfoBae this week. Officials from the community had spoken with the restaurant owners earlier this year, who promised to change the names.
“We do not understand the delay in doing it, but I understand that at this moment, it is being modified and there will be an apology,” Rosenthal told InfoBae ahead of the removal of the items from the menu.
Rosenthal said the event was “completely atypical” in the city, which is home to about 30 Jewish families. Normally, he said, there is “an excellent coexistence between the different communities and religions.”
“We deeply regret this fact and we hope that you will reflect on the issue,” Rosenthal said, addressing the restaurant. “And that the names of Anne Frank, Adolf and Benito be withdrawn from the products of this place, and that it does not happen again.”
The Israelite Cultural and Sports Association I.L. Peretz, a local Jewish sports group, called the menu items’ names “offensive, insulting and disgusting.”
“We imagine that for marketing reasons and ‘mischief,’ they give their products names with enormous historical echoes,” the association said in a statement. “This Nazi brushstroke is not only offensive to the victims of racist genocide, but also offends human dignity.”
Honky Donky is set to offer more burger and fries options named for more benevolent historical figures, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama, according to the Times of Israel.
This is not the first time a restaurant has been accused of flippantly referencing the Holocaust in order to promote its fare. In November, the German division of fast food chain KFC sent out an online promotion tied to Kristallnacht, the night of Nazi-led antisemitic riots throughout Germany and Austria in 1938 that is seen as the start of the Holocaust.
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The post Argentine fast food restaurant drops ‘Anne Frank’ and ‘Adolf’ menu items after backlash from Jewish community appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Really?
JNS.org – If I asked you to name the most famous line in the Bible, what would you answer? While Shema Yisrael (“Hear O’Israel”) might get many votes, I imagine that the winning line would be “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). Some religions refer to it as the Golden Rule, but all would agree that it is fundamental to any moral lifestyle. And it appears this week in our Torah reading, Kedoshim.
This is quite a tall order. Can we be expected to love other people as much as we love ourselves? Surely, this is an idealistic expectation. And yet, the Creator knows us better than we know ourselves. How can His Torah be so unrealistic?
The biblical commentaries offer a variety of explanations. Some, like Rambam (Maimonides), say that the focus should be on our behavior, rather than our feelings. We are expected to try our best or to treat others “as if” we genuinely love them.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in his classic text called the Tanya, argues that the actual feelings of love are, in fact, achievable provided that we focus on a person’s spirituality rather than how they present themselves physically. If we can put the soul over the body, we can do it.
Allow me to share the interpretation of the Ramban (Nachmanides), a 13th-century Torah scholar from Spain. His interpretation of the verses preceding love thy neighbor is classic and powerful, yet simple and straightforward.
“Do not hate your brother in your heart. You shall rebuke him, but do not bear a sin because of him” by embarrassing him in public. “Do not take revenge, and do not bear a grudge against your people. You shall love your fellow as yourself, I am God” (Leviticus 19:17-18).
What is the connection between these verses? Why is revenge and grudge-bearing in the same paragraph as love your fellow as yourself?
A careful reading shows that within these two verses are no less than six biblical commandments. But what is their sequence all about, and what is the connection between them?
The Ramban explains it beautifully, showing how the sequence of verses is deliberate and highlighting the Torah’s profound yet practical advice on how to maintain healthy relationships.
Someone wronged you? Don’t hate him in your heart. Speak to him. Don’t let it fester until it bursts, and makes you bitter and sick.
Instead, talk it out. Confront the person. Of course, do it respectfully. Don’t embarrass anyone in public, so that you don’t bear a sin because of them. But don’t let your hurt eat you up. Communicate!
If you approach the person who wronged you—not with hate in your heart but with respectful reproof—one of two things will happen. Either he or she will apologize and explain their perspective on the matter. Or that it was a misunderstanding and will get sorted out between you. Either way, you will feel happier and healthier.
Then you will not feel the need to take revenge or even to bear a grudge.
Here, says the Ramban, is the connection between these two verses. And if you follow this advice, only then will you be able to observe the commandment to Love Thy Neighbor. If you never tell him why you are upset, another may be completely unaware of his or her wrongdoing, and it will remain as a wound inside you and may never go away.
To sum up: Honest communication is the key to loving people.
Now, tell me the truth. Did you know that not taking revenge is a biblical commandment? In some cultures in Africa, revenge is a mitzvah! I’ve heard radio talk-show hosts invite listeners to share how they took “sweet revenge” on someone, as if it’s some kind of accomplishment.
Furthermore, did you know that bearing a grudge is forbidden by biblical law?
Here in South Africa, people refer to a grudge by its Yiddish name, a faribel. In other countries, people call it a broiges. Whatever the terminology, the Torah states explicitly: “Thou shalt not bear a grudge!” Do not keep a faribel, a broiges or resentment of any kind toward someone you believe wronged you. Talk to that person. Share your feelings honestly. If you do it respectfully and do not demean the other’s dignity, then it can be resolved. Only then will you be able to love your fellow as yourself.
May all our grudges and feelings of resentment toward others be dealt with honestly and respectfully. May all our grudges be resolved as soon as possible. Then we will all be in a much better position to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The post Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Really? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Nonsense’: Huckabee Shoots Down Report Trump to Endorse Palestinian Statehood
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday dismissed as nonsensical the report that President Donald Trump would endorse Palestinian statehood during his tour to the Persian Gulf this week.
“This report is nonsense,” Huckabee harrumphed on his X account, blasting the Jerusalem Post as needing better sourced reporting. “Israel doesn’t have a better friend than the president of the United States.”
Trump is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The leader’s first trip overseas since he took office comes as Trump seeks the Gulf countries’ support in regional conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and curbing Iran’s advancing nuclear program.
However, reports citing administration insiders claimed that Trump has also set his sights on the ambitious goal of expanding the Abraham Accords. These agreements, initially signed in 2020, normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. The accords are widely held to be among the most important achievements of the first Trump administration.
The post ‘Nonsense’: Huckabee Shoots Down Report Trump to Endorse Palestinian Statehood first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US to Put Military Option Back on Table If No Immediate Progress in Iran Talks
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Unless significant progress is registered in Sunday’s round of nuclear talks with Iran, the US will consider putting the military option back on the table, sources close to US envoy Steve Witkoff told i24NEWS.
American and Iranian representatives voiced optimism after the previous talks that took place in Oman and Rome, saying there was a friendly atmosphere despite the two countries’ decades of enmity.
However the two sides are not believed to have thrashed out the all-important technical details, and basic questions remain.
The source has also underscored the significance of the administration’s choice of Michael Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director, as the lead representative in the nuclear talks’ technical phases.
Anton is “an Iran expert and someone who knows how to cut a deal with Iran,” the source said, saying that the choice reflected Trump’s desire to secure the deal.
The post US to Put Military Option Back on Table If No Immediate Progress in Iran Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.