An Israeli mother and daughter were seriously wounded in what they described as a brutal antisemitic attack on the Thai island of Koh Phangan after a man asked where they were from and then assaulted them.
The suspect, who holds a French passport, was later arrested after allegedly becoming involved in a separate violent incident.
“Out of nowhere, he started beating me viciously and bit my ear,” the mother told Ynet from her hospital bed. “We have injuries all over our bodies, everything is swollen. We went through what felt like a terror attack. It was horrifying.”
The 62-year-old mother had flown to Thailand for a two-week visit with her 23-year-old daughter, who was traveling in the country.
On Tuesday, the two rode a motorcycle to visit a waterfall on Koh Phangan. They parked near the road and began walking the roughly 100 meters toward the site when they encountered the man.
“A guy who was also on a motorcycle stopped behind us and started asking how we were,” the mother said. “We were busy buying a coconut. He asked my daughter where we were from, and she said Israel.”
The man then began confronting them over the war in Gaza, she said.
“He said, ‘I don’t like what Israel is doing there,’ and I told him we were on vacation and did not want to discuss the issue or what they had done to us,” she recalled. “He said, ‘I’m against violence,’ and the conversation ended.”
Moments later, she said, the man called out to them from above, came down toward them and attacked.
“He started beating me viciously,” she said. “My daughter tried to protect me and was beaten too. We both fought him. I was hit in the head, and at some point I apparently lost consciousness.”
The mother
The attacker continued hitting the mother while the daughter ran toward the road to seek help.
“He chased her, but she managed to call out to two French women who were there,” the mother said. “When he saw that there were other people on the road, he took his motorcycle and fled.”
“I remember lying on the road while people told me that police and an ambulance were coming,” she added. “They bandaged my head and took my daughter and me to a hospital on Koh Phangan.”
Transferred by boat for surgery
Medical teams at the hospital determined that both women required surgery.
“They did a CT scan of my head and saw that I had bleeding, so they decided to transfer us by boat to a hospital on Koh Samui,” the mother said.
Their conditions were initially listed as serious but later stabilized.
“I was in intensive care for 24 hours,” she said. “Today was the first time we managed to open our eyes, drink and eat, and we are feeling better.”
Her daughter underwent surgery on her nose. The mother underwent surgery on her ear and said she would likely require another operation.
‘We never imagined our trip would end this way’
The mother said she had not expected such an attack in Thailand, a country she believed was generally welcoming toward Israelis.
“I never thought something like this could happen to me here in Thailand, where people are so friendly toward Israelis,” she said. “I am always careful and usually do not say I am from Israel. But here in Thailand, I thought it was safe.”
She said the attacker spoke with a French accent.
“We could never have imagined he would do something like this,” she said.
“It is truly terrible, and we never thought our trip would end this way. We only wanted to see a waterfall, and then a man came and attacked two women in the most brutal way possible.”
“We tried to fight back, but he was extremely violent.”
According to the mother, the suspect was arrested by chance after becoming involved in another incident in a different town.
“We understood that after attacking us, he went to another city, caused a disturbance there and attacked police officers,” she said. “At that point, they did not yet know he was connected to our case.”
Police later came to speak with the women. The daughter gave a statement, and they were able to recall the suspect’s name.
“That was when they realized it was the same man who attacked us,” the mother said. “The police did good work and caught that evil man. They did not brush it aside.”
The mother said she fears the trauma will remain with them for a long time.
“This happened in a place where we never dreamed it could happen,” she said. “We will learn not to say we are from Israel, because you can never know how someone will react.”