“He said he was against violence, but he lunged at me and started hitting me on the head”: Israeli tourists face hostility around the world
Over the past year, Israel’s Foreign Ministry received a record number of complaints from Israeli citizens who suffered physical violence, harassment, and discrimination while abroad. Three years after the October 7 massacre and the start of the devastating war in Gaza that followed, anti-Israeli sentiment around the world has not subsided. “Collective responsibility” for the government’s policy…
In October, Hen and Adar Berti, Israeli tourists from Ashkelon, visited Vienna for a vacation. They rented an Airbnb in Leopoldstadt, near a synagogue. One evening, a stranger repeatedly knocked on their door, calling them "Zionist occupiers" and causing the couple to feel uneasy. The man then lingered near the building for an hour before the police arrived.
Though the incident involved only insults, the police did not intervene, citing it as a minor issue. The couple feared staying in the apartment and received assistance from a local Israeli community to find new accommodation. A 2025 Tel Aviv University study found that despite October's end of large-scale hostilities in Gaza, antisemitic incidents worldwide remained higher than prewar levels, with a 21% increase in Britain and the United States.
Experts attribute this rise to the belief that criticism of Israel's policies is equated with targeting individual Jews.
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