‘We won't surrender to fear’: Inside the Israeli-Palestinian restaurant struggling to survive in Berlin

A decade since its opening, and three years since the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks, one of Berlin's best known hummus restaurants faces closure as customers stay away.

Kanaan co-founders Oz Ben David and Jalil Dabit sharing their signature dish outside of Kanaan last year. Photo courtesy of Kanaan.

“Make hummus, not war,” reads a rainbow poster with a white peace sign outside Kanaan, a Palestinian-Israeli restaurant in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district.

The motto fits the unlikely duo behind it: Palestinian chef Jalil Dabit and Israeli entrepreneur Oz Ben David, who built a loyal following with both their story of togetherness and their inventive dishes.

Customers couldn’t get enough of German-inspired Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) topped with tahini sauce or Hamschuka, a mix of creamy hummus hailing from Dabit’s relatives in Ramla and Ben David’s grandmother’s shakshuka, a rich red pepper, tomato and egg dish.

For its first seven years, Kanaan thrived in relative calm. “Security was never an issue,” Ben David recalled on a recent afternoon. “We got hate online, mostly from people against normalisation. Those days were different days, before October 7th. We didn’t know what was waiting for us.”

Since the Hamas attacks and Gaza War which followed, however, the restaurant has faced dwindling customers, vandalism, and losses in revenue as high as 60 percent in some quarters. Without a turnaround, the decade-old eatery -- which just launched a call for help on its website -- may not survive more than a few weeks.

Ben David, 44, and Dabit, 42, making their signature hummus together in the kitchen at Kanaan in November 2023. Photo courtesy of Kanaan.

‘Not surrendering to fear’

Ben David knew the Israeli Kibbutz Re’im from his idyllic summers there in his youth, whether working with cows or as the spot of his first kiss. The bloodshed on October 7th hit him hard, when the community was among several stormed by Hamas terrorists. Messages filled his WhatsApp groups from friends and family members trying to stay alive.