Israeli man says he was assaulted in Barcelona over his Jewish identity

Yotam Eyal says a group of Arab men began taunting him after seeing his kippa, then one of them hit him on the head from behind

A man is seen cursing an Israeli in Barcelona, before the Israeli was assaulted on June 9, 2024 (Screencapture X :  used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
A man is seen cursing an Israeli in Barcelona, before the Israeli was assaulted on June 9, 2024 (Screencapture X : used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

An Israeli man said Monday that he was attacked while walking in Barcelona over his Jewish identity.

Yotam Eyal posted a video to X of what he said were the early stages of the attack that occurred Sunday.

In the video, several men can be seen shouting “Fuck Israel” at Eyal before one of the assailants hits him on the back of the head, he said, and then “kicked my phone out of my hands.”

Writing that the attackers were Arab, Eyal said the confrontation began due to the kippa he was wearing.

“Police arrived, I was in the hospital, and I’m okay,” he wrote. “They will pay for this attack, I’m already working on it.

“It is horrifying to experience antisemitism in the street out of nowhere from people with whom you have no acquaintance,” he added.

Spain has been one of the most critical European nations of Israel since the outbreak of the war with Hamas.

Last week Madrid asked a United Nations court for permission to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

South Africa filed its case with the International Court of Justice late last year, alleging that Israel was breaching the genocide convention in its military assault against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and says South Africa is acting as an emissary of Hamas, which rules Gaza and seeks to eliminate the Jewish state. It says that the Israel Defense Forces is targeting Hamas terrorists, not Palestinian civilians, but points out that civilian casualties in the fighting are unavoidable as terrorists operate from deep within the population.

Spain’s request was the latest in a string of moves by the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to support Palestinians.

Protesters hold signs reading “Boycott Israel, It worked with South-Africa” as they gather during a an anti-Israel demonstration, in front of the Foreign Affairs ministry in Madrid, on May 27, 2024. (Thomas Coex/AFP)

Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state on May 28 in a coordinated effort by the three Western European nations, in a move Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “reward for terror.”

While Sánchez has condemned Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre and joined calls for the return of the remaining hostages, he has earned diplomatic backlash from Israel. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that by recognizing a Palestinian state, Sánchez’s government was “being complicit in inciting genocide against Jews and war crimes.”

Sánchez’s backing of the Palestinians is generally supported in Spain, where some university students have followed their American counterparts in protesting on campuses.

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