 Eight Chinese tourists managed to spend more than $4,000 at a hummus restaurant in Jerusalem and the Israeli Foreign Ministry is now searching for them to find out if they were ripped off. Last week, however, tour operators cried foul after a group of eight Chinese tourists notched up a bill of 16,500 shekels, or $4,390, after an evening at the Abu Ghosh eatery in the small Israeli-Arab village of the same name. Restaurant owner Jawdat Ibrahim said the charges were fair, listing bottles of expensive alcohol and an entire lamb among the items ordered. “They enjoyed themselves and thanked me, and now, two weeks later, they're trying to besmirch us.” 
 
 Yossi Fattal, chief executive of the Incoming Tour Operators Association, disagreed and said the restaurant owner was trying to cheat the tourists. We have meals for NIS 20 as well, and there are meals with a cost like this. The Israeli financial newspaper Globes published a copy of the bill last week: 
 
 4,000 shekelsfor a private room ($1,064) 
 
 650 shekels for hors d'oeuvres and salads ($173) 
 
 5,900 shekels for alcohol ($1,569) 
 
 3,150 shekels for main courses ($838) 
 
 1,350 shekels for desserts ($359) 
 
 1,500 shekels for service charge ($400) 
 
 Total: 16,500 shekels, or about $4,390 
 
 “They knew the prices in advance. If they thought that they had been cheated, why did they add a 10 percent tip to the bill?” said Ibrahim, according to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday. He says the group arrived at the restaurant after 7 pm, and that the restaurant was not closed specially for them, but that they only received a private room, while there were other diners in other parts of the restaurant at the time. “The association decided to make this incident public in order to illustrate the importance of fair and polite treatment of tourists who come to Israel and are an important sector of the country's economy,” Globes quoted Fattal as saying. One of the goals of the Ministry of Tourism is to promote Chinese tourism and unlock its rich potential with a series of moves, which include for example adapting hotels to the needs of Chinese tourists and special tours.
– How did eight Chinese tourists rack up a tab worth about $4,400 at an Israeli hummus restaurant? That's what the Israeli Foreign Ministry is asking after the group was charged a hefty 16,500 shekels for dinner, the New York Daily News reports. "By behaving this way we are destroying with our own hands the budding potential of the Chinese market for Israel," complained an Israeli tourism group to Globes. Some 47,000 Chinese visit Israel each year, and the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association said it chose to go public with the bill in order to chide the restaurant and dissuade others from following in the restaurant's allegedly unfair footsteps. The bill at the popular Abu Ghosh Restaurant included: $1,064 for a private room $173 for hors d'oeuvres and salads $1,569 for booze $838 for main courses $400 service charge $359 for desserts Restaurant owner Jawdat Ibrahim defended the bill and said the Chinese asked him to close the eatery on one of his busiest nights. "They sat there from 3pm on Friday until midnight, and became rowdy and drunk," he said, noting that the group added a 10% tip. He says he got a thanks from the diners, only to find them "trying to besmirch us ... two weeks later.” The Association disputes that account, saying the Chinese arrived at 7pm, never asked Ibrahim to close the place, and arrived to find the alcohol pre-ordered and on the table. HummusGate has prompted an inquiry by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in China, which is trying to track down the tourists, the Washington Post notes. (This drunk diner accidentally tipped 1,800%.)