Posts  appeared last week urging people to ‘‘boycott Islamic businesses’’ while others criticised the popular  Middle Eastern eatery for supplying halal-certified products. 

Fed up with the comments, which started appearing last year, Omar Nemer took to Facebook to defend his family’s business.

‘‘We are a Muslim-owned restaurant, we sell halal food, we don’t sell alcohol or charge for corkage because it is against our religion to make money off something that is not allowed in Islam,’’ his post said.

‘‘We love the Illawarra and we love living in Australia, the most amazing country in the world.’’

Mr Nemer individually commented on some offensive posts, offering to explain more about halal-approved foods.

He reminded one commenter who told to him to  ‘‘go back to where he came from’’ that he couldn’t, he was already there, having been born and raised in the Illawarra. 

Within a few hours Mr Nemer’s post had more than 1500 likes and hundreds of messages of support from the community.

The vast majority of the 130 comments defended Samaras and the Nemer family, who have owned and operated the business for seven years. 

 ‘‘It is people from Samaras who add to this glorious country and we are lucky they share their wonderful and tasty heritage with us...every single time they have welcomed us like family,’’ one post said.

‘‘A great family who I’ve known for many years...let small minded idiots miss out on the best food ever...more for me!’’ another commentator wrote.

Mr Nemer said he was overwhelmed by the support. 

‘‘It’s amazing, I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I posted that comment but by the end of the dinner that night it had over 1000 likes,’’ he said.

‘‘I was flooded with joy, it made me feel really, really good,’’ Mr Nemer said.

Since his parents Mohammed and Rehab opened the restaurant seven years ago, Omar and his sisters Samara, Macey and Alyca have become familiar faces in the Illawarra hospitality scene.

‘‘People have always respected our choices and our religion,’’ he said.

‘‘Since we opened,  we tried to set the best example by having photos of our family in the shop and by being open and polite about who we are.

‘‘Our customers love that and it’s why we have had so much support,’’ he said.