16-year-old indicted over alleged homophobic assault at Jaffa port

Police announce a 16-year-old boy was indicted today over an early October 14 assault at the Jaffa port on a man who says he was attacked for being gay.

The boy, who was detained last Thursday and has been under house arrest since Sunday, is the main suspect in the assault on 28-year-old Idan Trachtengerts, according to a police statement.

The statement does not specify the charges against the suspect.

Another 17-year-old suspect was also arrested on October 14 and was released the same day under restrictive conditions following an interrogation, according to police.

Trachtengerts, the victim, said on social media the day after the attack that he was “beat up simply because I’m gay” as he and a friend were leaving the Jaffa port’s Barby performance venue the night of October 13-14.

According to Trachtengerts, after he talked back to a youth who hurled homophobic abuse at him, the youth charged him and hit him in the head with a helmet until Trachtengerts almost blacked out.

The youth also smashed a glass bottle on the ground and tried to stab Trachtengerts with it, while four or five other men kicked Trachtengerts upon “noticing an opportunity to take part in a lynch on a gay man,” Trachtengerts said.

Footage captured by Trachtengerts’s companion shows the start of the assault. Another video shows shards of glass on the ground as medics mill about.

״פוצצו אותי מכות. נטו בגלל שאני הומו״.

עידן טרכטנגרץ תאר את שעבר עליו:
אחרי הופעה בבארבי בנמל יפו, גבר קילל אותו קללות הומופוביות והכה בראשו בקסדה עד שהכול התערפל. עוד 4–5 גברים הצטרפו, בעטו ואמרו שיהרגו אותו. התוקף הראשון שבר בקבוק וניסה לדקור. חברתו צרחה וצילמה, והתוקפים… pic.twitter.com/cBgjxLsvmL

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) October 14, 2026

Police also publish separate footage from a security camera that allegedly shows the 16-year-old suspect taking a helmet off a ride-share e-scooter and beating Trachtengerts with it as other people join in on the assault.

Security camera footage published by police on October 22, 2026, shows people assaulting a man at the Jaffa Port early on October 14, 2026. (Israel Police)