Berlin restaurant closes after threats and anti-Israel protests

A Berlin dining room built around Israeli chef Eyal Shani’s name is now shut for good after months of protests, intimidation and threats that made normal service impossible for staff and guests. Gila & Nancy, on Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin-Mitte, is listed as permanently closed as of April 2026.

The restaurant had already been a hard opening before the first plate left the pass. It was delayed twice over the summer of 2025, before finally opening on September 12 under police protection. In August, about 130 people protested outside the venue, and police said there were two arrests at one of the demonstrations. One protest drew support from BDS and the German branch of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, putting the restaurant at the center of a broader political fight that spilled straight onto the sidewalk.

For workers inside, the pressure was not abstract. Shani said death threats were sprayed on neighborhood trash bins, tomatoes were smashed against the windows, and direct threats were made against him and his staff. That is the point where a restaurant stops being just controversial and starts becoming unsafe to staff, from the host stand to the kitchen door. A room cannot run a service when employees are being targeted before they clock in and diners are arriving under police watch.

The restaurant’s identity also made it a flashpoint. Gila & Nancy was marketed as queer-friendly and planned drag shows, which protesters attacked as “pinkwashing.” The dispute intensified around co-owner Shahar Segal, who had served as a spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation before resigning in July 2025. The campaign against the restaurant folded together questions of politics, identity and ownership, but the immediate fallout was operational: repeated disruptions, frightened staff and an opening that never stabilized.

Shani, who operates more than 40 restaurants worldwide and won a Michelin star in New York for Shmoné in 2023, has faced similar pressure elsewhere, including unrest tied to a Shani-linked venue in Melbourne. In Berlin, the result was stark: a restaurant that never had a clean run at service, and a workforce that could not be expected to operate normally while the front door remained part protest site, part security perimeter.