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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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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.