A horrifying antisemitic attack took place in Limassol, Cyprus, on Sunday when a young Israeli man was brutally attacked by a group of youths who heard him speaking Hebrew on his phone at the entrance to his hotel, Israeli media outlets reported.

The beating was so vicious that he lost consciousness and was later evacuated for medical treatment. He woke up in the hospital with severe injuries on his head and his face, including his eye socket, and his eyesight is now at risk.

Maor, the younger brother of the injured Israeli, wrote about the incident on his Facebook account: “Two strangers approached my brother and began asking him personal questions: who he is, where he is from, and what he’s doing there. My brother, feeling uncomfortable, chose not to answer.”

“A few minutes later, my brother received a video call from a friend, and the conversation was in Hebrew. At that moment, those people realized that he was Israeli. From then on, according to my brother’s testimony, the event took a violent and difficult turn. The strangers understood that my brother was from Israel, attacked him until he lost consciousness, stole his phone and fled the scene.”

“An ambulance arrived after 40 minutes. The police took a photo of his passport but did not launch an investigation of what happened. I demand answers. How is it possible that we weren’t informed of such a violent and serious incident, in which there is a clear concern of an antisemitic motive, by representatives from the Israeli consulate? Instead, we heard about it through a phone call from my brother, injured and frightened and crying for help from a foreign country!”

“How is it possible that only after dozens of phone calls, pleas and continuous pressure, we finally managed to contact a representative from the consulate, and even then, they took no responsibility—not for immediate medical treatment, not for basic security, and not for the well-being of an Israeli citizen who was severely injured and needed urgent surgery to save his eyes after he suffered fractures to his eye socket?”

“After repeated attempts, I managed to speak with a representative from the embassy. The answer I received was chilling in its simplicity—it’s a day off at the consulate, so it’s impossible to deal with the matter now. When they return to work the next day, the matter will be examined.”

“Due to the worsening of his condition and with the realization that he won’t be assisted in time, my brother had to return to Israel on an emergency flight. He is now undergoing emergency surgery in Israel, which my family and I financed privately, without any intervention from the government or concern from the authorities.”

Subsequent reports said that the police in Cyprus have launched a probe in the incident and Israel’s Foreign Ministry is dealing with the matter.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)