Pro-Palestine Chef Rubio 'attacked by pro-Israel mob' after Gaza activism

Prominent Italian chef Gabriele Rubini, better known as Chef Rubio, said he was violently ambushed and attacked by a pro-Israel mob late on Wednesday night, allegedly for his pro-Palestine activism.

In a series of posts on X, the rugby player-turned-chef, said a gang of six men waited outside of his home and cut the wires to the security gates before attacking him.

In one of the videos posted, Rubini's face and head are covered in blood with a swollen eye.

In a follow up post, he shared a photo of the inside of his car covered in broken glass.

Early on Thursday, the bandaged chef posted an update after he left hospital and later shared photos of the hammer allegedly used in the attack and blood inside his vehicle.

Grazie a tutte e tutti per il sostegno. Alla fine punti in testa dove mi hanno dato la martellata, tagli ed escoriazioni dove mi hanno preso a mattonate, frattura dell’orbita facciale dove sono finiti i 60 pugni mirati, e si ricomincia. Un abbraccio alla comunità ebraica 🇵🇸✌🏾 pic.twitter.com/9sVzX3Wt72

— Rubio 🔻 (@rubio_chef) May 16, 2024

"Thank you all for the support. In the end, I had stitches on my head where I had cuts and was hit with bricks. I have a fracture to the facial orbit where I was targeted 60 times. We start again, a hug to the Jewish community," he said.

The New Arab reached out to the Polizia di Stato, one of the national police forces of Italy for comment, but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

Activists claimed Rubini was targeted for his outspoken criticism of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, which has devastated the territory and killed over 35,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

"Last night the famous Italian chef Rubio, known for his pro-Palestinian activism, was almost beaten to death by Zionist thugs. This brutality- which most Western citizens are only now experiencing for the first time- is what Palestinians have been dealing with for decades," one social media user said.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories voiced her words of support in response to Rubini’s posts.

"I’m so sorry, we live in unprecedented moral degradation. Maximum solidarity with you, with the hope that the mob members who did this to you will soon be brought to justice," she said on X.

The chef has vowed to continue to raise awareness over Israel’s bombardment of Palestine despite the alleged attack.

Chef Rubio travelled to the besieged enclave in 2020, giving cooking lessons to Palestinian prisoners in a Gaza City jail.