What did Keith McNally say about the Israel-Hamas conflict? Restaurateur issues apology as deleted post sparks backlash

A lot of celebrities have aired their views about the Hamas-Israel war and the latest addition to the long list is celebrity restaurateur, Keith McNally. The Balthazar owner is known for his rather unconventional and blunt takes, but his take on the Hamas-Israel conflict exceeded even his controversial standards, as the restaurateur's opinions left many extremely critical of him.

On Monday, October 9, Keith McNally posted a picture of Hamas launched Rockets flying into Israel and stated that the responsibility to listen to the other side, becomes more as the facts get more "repugnant". The massive slew of backlash directed at him, following the airing of his opinion forced McNally to delete the post from the platform and even issue an apology.

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"There’s nothing to lose by listening": Keith McNally

Keith McNally is a British New York City restaurateur, most famous for owning Balthazar, a popular and expensive Manhatten French brasserie restaurant, known mostly for celebrity watching. His unfiltered commentary on social media has made him a famous figure in recent years. This includes his lashing out against James Cordon for bad behavior towards staff and continuous support of Woody Allen.

On Monday McNally took to Instagram to post a picture of the rockets sent by Hamas entering Israel with the caption:

"The More Utterly Repugnant The Facts, The Greater The Responsibility Becomes To Listen To The Other Side."

Keith McNally's deleted post (Image via X/@Tvoyakukla14)

Keith McNally's statements were met with immediate anger and disgust, so much so that Keith deleted his post. This did not stop the backlash, as his previous post, where the comments section was open, was filled with disgruntled people asking him how he could justify what was going on. A lot of Jewish users from NYC said that they would no longer be coming to his restaurants and called for a boycott.

Comments from Keith's previous post (Image via Instagram/@keithmcnallynyc)

Instead of taking back his words, McNally doubled down on his comments in reaction to those who criticized the post.

His second string of comments read:

"I’m part Jewish. In the 1970s I lived for long stretches of time on an Israeli kibbutz. My older brother Peter risked his life spying for Israel. I think the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas are vile, barbaric and totally repugnant."

He added:

"But I stand by what i wrote this morning: THE MORE UTTERLY REPUGNANT THE FACTS, THE GREATER THE RESPONSIBILITY TO LISTEN TO THE OTHER SIDE. This doesn’t mean forgive. This doesn’t mean not retaliate. It simply means listen. There’s nothing to lose by listening. Nothing whatsoever."

However, on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, a day after his controversial comments landed him backlash, the apology finally came. McNally put out a post on Instagram apologizing for his post which was now deleted.

He said that all he wanted was peace in the Middle East and stated that he had never supported Hamas, which he called a terrorist organization filled with murderers and thugs. The comments for his post were turned off.

Since McNally donated money to Ukraine amidst the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, his words at this time seem to contradict his actions.

When the New York Post enquired about McNally raising money for Ukraine in their war against Russia and compared it with his current statements, he said to have listened to what Putin wanted but did not agree with it, therefore supporting Ukraine. He told the outlet that people could at least listen to Palestine, "far more" than Hamas, which he called a "vile terrorist gang".