Israeli tourists repelled an armed assault at a campsite in northern Mongolia on July 13, according to a report by Israel's Diaspora Affairs Ministry's National Center for Combating Antisemitism, which characterized the incident as antisemitic.
Six Israelis - three men and three women - were attacked while preparing to camp. The assailants targeted them after hearing them speak Hebrew, the report said. During the assault, the perpetrators shouted "Heil Hitler" And "Get out of here."
The attackers, described in the report as "local Kazakh Muslims" According to witness accounts, were armed with axes and knives. The three Israeli men, all former IDF combat soldiers, fought back to defend the group. One used a glass bottle against an attacker, while another disarmed a knife-wielding assailant, enabling the group to repel the attackers and escape.
One Israeli sustained a fractured jaw from a blow to the face and was airlifted to Israel for surgery. The group departed with help from a local driver and contacted the Israeli Embassy in China, which oversees Mongolia. Embassy officials and Israel's ambassador maintained contact with the tourists until they left the country safely.
Mongolian authorities offered the victims an opportunity to file a police complaint, but they chose to depart instead. As of the report's publication, no arrests were announced and no details about the assailants were disclosed.