Turkey is one of the most popular vacation spots for Israelis. This scary incident happened to Jerusalem’s Nochi Brown in the Istanbul airport yesterday:
Brown arrived at the Istanbul airport yesterday (Monday) after spending the weekend in the city. He was reading the Gemara (book offering interpretation of the Torah) when a group of Arab men waiting for a flight to Algeria began crowding around him, making remarks in Arabic about “avenging the killing of Ahmed Yassin.”
Fortunately, other Israelis were present at the airport at the time, including Itzik Tsabari from Givat Shmuel. Tsabari, who speaks Arabic, was shocked to hear the conversation between the Arab men. “I heard them say ‘Itbach al-Yehud’ [butcher the Jews], we’ll take him to the bathroom and get our revenge for Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians”, he recounted.
Thanks to Tsabari, Brown came out of this OK. But it doesn’t bode well for Jews/Israelis travelling in areas with large Muslim populations. This story should at least make its way into Jewish publications, to encourage greater awareness of this growing problem.
