(JTA) — An Ohio restaurant owned by an Arab-Israeli reopened days after four patrons were injured in a machete attack.
The Nazareth Restaurant and Deli in Columbus reopened Monday with a limited menu, according to local reports, four days after the attack.
Owner Hany Baransi, a Christian originally from Haifa, told WBNS-TV in Columbus that he has no doubt the attack was terrorist in nature.
“I come from the Middle East,” he said. “I come from Israel, and this has been a big thing here. People ask me ‘where are you from?’ [I respond] I’m from Israel. Sometimes it offends people. I don’t know, but I still am. I’m not going to change. I am what I am.”
The FBI reportedly is involved in the investigation to help determine a motive for the attack and whether it was terror-related.
The injured patrons are expected to recover.
Police identified the assailant as Mohamed Bary and said he had come to the restaurant earlier and asked a worker where the owner was from originally. Bary was shot and killed by police about two miles from the restaurant after lunging at officers with the machete and a knife.
On Friday, sources told NBC News that investigators are looking into whether the attacker mistakenly believed the owner was Jewish.
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