A WAVE of antisemitism is spreading in popular tourist destination Pai in northern Mae Hong Son province with a restaurant putting up a sign saying tourists from Israel are not welcome after four Israeli men caused trouble at a hospital there upon not being allowed into the emergency room where another Israeli tourist was being treated for motorcycle accident injuries, Amarin TV said today (Feb. 8).
The four Israeli men, identified as Mr.Daniel Gagaev, 24, Mr.Aviv Rom, 26, Mr.Or Emanoel Ashton, 25 and Mr.Dan Nisko, 25, were fined 3,000 baht each on charges of causing a disturbance, behaving inappropriately and using inappropriate language inside Pai Hospital and deported.
The ruckus occurred on Feb. 2 when an Israeli tourist who fell and injured himself in a motorcycle accident was brought to this hospital for treatment. His four Israeli friends followed to check on him but instead of waiting in an appropriate manner they tried to barge into the emergency room where their friend was being treated.
They managed to open the door to the emergency room but the medical team rushed to turn them out. They then called the police because other patients were being disturbed.
Doctors there said this was not the first time there has been rude behavior, such as pointing at the medical staff, scolding them, not trusting the skills of Thai doctors and demanding that they only treat the symptoms as requested by the patient.
At 11 p.m. last night a Facebook page user posted a message on his page entitled “Pai Khana” that a restaurant had put up a sign saying Israeli tourists are not welcome there.
Another Facebook user posted a video clip at around the same time showing foreign tourists behaving inappropriately towards her and her friend who jointly run a restaurant greatly frightening them, with a following message:
“Living in fear of the behaviour of these people. Every Tuesday and Friday, I noticed the shop has to close early. I feel unsafe, there are only two of us, what will women do? Now making business and safety plans, I feel uneasy all the time.”
Pol. Lt. Col. Wichai Panna, a Mae Hong Son Immigration Police inspector, said the behaviour of tourists seen in the video clip is a cause for concern and is leading to business operators in Pai becoming fearful,
He has coordinated with Pai police station to jointly track them down and bring them in for questioning and legal action.
Statistics show that in 2024 altogether 221,776 foreign tourists visited Pai with the largest groups being British, Israeli, Dutch, German and American.
This total is as recorded by accommodations they rented and reported to the authorities and it shows that Israeli tourists to Pai totalled 31,735 last year. However there are discrepancies in the statistics because when a tourist moves from one accommodation to another they are reported and listed again which significantly increases the total.
Currently there are only 2,000 to 3,000 Israeli tourists in Pai.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Composite image showing a sign put up in a Pai restaurant saying “No Israel here”, right, and one of the foreign tourists who misbehaved towards two female restaurateurs, left.
First and second insert: Detailed images of the above two photos:
Third insert: Pai Hospital. All photos: Amarin TV
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