Israeli tourists fought off armed assailants in Mongolia earlier this month, in what Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry described as an antisemitic attack at a campsite for tourists.
Assailants attacked six Israelis — three men and three women — on July 13 while preparing to spend the night at a campsite in northern Mongolia, according to a report published this week by the ministry’s National Center for Combating Antisemitism.
The assailants targeted the group after hearing them speak Hebrew, the Ministry’s report said, adding the perpetrators shouted “Heil Hitler” and “Get out of here” during the assault.
The attackers, described in the report as “local Kazakh Muslims” as per testimonies, were armed with axes and knives, the report said. The three Israeli men, all former IDF combat soldiers, fought back to protect the group. One used a glass bottle to fend off an attacker, while another reportedly disarmed a knife-wielding assailant, allowing the group to repel the attackers and flee.
One Israeli suffered a fractured jaw after being struck in the face and was flown back to Israel for surgery. The group left with the assistance of a local driver before contacting the Israeli Embassy in China, which is responsible for Mongolia. Embassy staff and Israel’s ambassador remained in contact with the tourists until they safely left the country, according to the report.
The report said Mongolian authorities offered the victims the opportunity to file a police complaint, but they chose instead to leave the country. As of the report’s publication this week, no arrests had been reported and no information about the attackers had been released.
