A viral TikTok video has sparked widespread ridicule after a woman was caught on camera mistakenly attacking a New Jersey gyro shop, ripping down a banner and screaming “Free Palestine” before realizing the flags were actually Greek.
The incident, which was posted on Tuesday, has garnered over four million views on the social media platform. The TikToker, who goes by “Ambamelia,” captioned the video with a tongue-in-cheek apology, saying “The time I thought the flag for Greece was for Israel and took the restaurant’s flag down – OMG.”
In the video, Ambamelia can be seen approaching Efi’s Gyro in Montclair, identified by the New York Post as the location of the incident. She is seen ripping down a banner featuring blue-and-white flags, which are actually the colors of the Greek flag, not the Israeli flag.
“What are you looking at?” she yells at the confused workers watching from the window, before adding “You know there’s a genocide.” One of the employees eventually comes outside and quietly tells her that the flags are actually Greek, prompting Ambamelia to respond “What? Really? Oh, I thought it was Israel – my bad.”
The video ends with Ambamelia offering to return the flags, but not before sparking a heated debate in the comments section. “Girl, the flags look so different,” one user replied. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever experienced secondhand embarrassment,” said another.
Efi Mihalis, the owner of the shop, told the New York Post that the incident occurred in March, and that her employees were “taken aback” by the woman’s behavior. “It was not a skit as some people believe,” she said. “This was not planned nor was it calculated in any way.” The incident has left many questioning Ambamelia’s judgment and knowledge of international flags. “How are you gonna fight for Palestine and not know what the Israel flag looks like??” one commenter asked. A third user, who identified themselves as Greek, said they were left speechless by the video. “As a Greek, I have no words,” they wrote.
