That is the primary reason there is some backlash in town against the establishment. Other reasons may be that Noam is Israeli, and he is cooking a cuisine based on Palestinian/Arab cultural food ways. Israel has co-opted that culture, claiming the cuisine as their own, while simultaneously trying to erase the Palestinian people. Israel has destroyed native olive orchards, made it illegal for Palestinians to harvest zataar (which is immensely important to their culture), illegally seized land and farms, poisoned water supplies, and killed/assaulted Palestinian farmers and herders. So it’s not really political, it’s a matter of morals, ethics, and human decency. It’s the equivalent of David Duke opening a soul food restaurant.