Israeli brutally attacked in Cyprus after heard speaking Hebrew; loses vision in eye

At that moment, they realized that he was Israeli. From that point on, the incident took a violent and severe turn.

By World Israel News Staff

A young Israeli man was brutally attacked over the weekend outside the hotel where he was staying in Limassol, Cyprus, after being heard speaking Hebrew, in an incident raising strong suspicion of an antisemitic motive.

The victim’s father told Kan News that the attack occurred Saturday night while his son was on a post-army trip.

According to his account, the young man was speaking on the phone in Hebrew when a stranger approached him asking for a cigarette. Shortly afterward, the man assaulted him violently.

The victim was flown to Israel on Sunday for medical treatment, underwent surgery on his eye, and ultimately lost vision in that eye due to the severity of the injuries.

In a Facebook post, the father described the attack, writing: “They attacked my son at the entrance to the hotel in Cyprus. Not on the street, not in a bar, but at the entrance to the hotel, a place that is supposed to be safe and secure. He was brutally beaten, suffered head and facial injuries, and was evacuated for medical treatment.”

The victim’s younger brother, Maor, also detailed the incident in a separate Facebook post.

According to him, two strangers approached his brother and began asking personal questions, including who he was, where he was from, and what he was doing there. “My brother felt uncomfortable and chose not to respond,” he wrote.

Minutes later, Maor said, his brother received a video call from a friend, conducted in Hebrew.

“At that moment, those people understood that he was Israeli. From that point on, the incident took a violent and severe turn. They attacked him together until he lost consciousness, stole his mobile phone, and fled the scene,” he wrote.

Maor added that an ambulance arrived only about 40 minutes later. He described the assault as “a serious and violent incident, with a clear suspicion of an antisemitic attack.”

The incident comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks worldwide, with Israelis and Jews increasingly targeted abroad because of their identity.