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Two Israeli teenagers were chased through the streets of Montenegro by roughly 15 people shouting “Jews, Jews!” after revealing their nationality while on vacation last week.
Yoav and Dor, both around 18 and from Hod HaSharon, were at a casino on Wednesday when a man sat beside them, struck up a friendly conversation, and asked where they were from. His manner shifted the moment they said they were Israeli.
“From that moment our nightmare began,” Yoav said. The man refused to leave them alone and pressed them to follow him to a more upscale casino. The teens grew suspicious when they realized that, despite claiming to be on a family vacation, he appeared to know the locals seated around them.
Sensing danger, Yoav and Dor decided to leave. The man stood and announced that he was coming with them. They waited until he looked away, then ran for the exit.
About 15 people were waiting outside. They spotted the teens and chased them through the surrounding streets and alleys. “It felt like a planned ambush,” Yoav said.
The teenagers split up as they fled. Yoav jumped a fence and hid in a private yard while the group searched the area. “I heard them right above me, searching house to house,” he recalled. “They shouted, ‘Jews, Jews!’ It brought back dark times.”
The group caught Dor and kicked him before he managed to break free and reach the hotel. Yoav remained hidden for two and a half hours, staying on the phone with his parents as they tried to calm him.
Yoav’s parents alerted Israel’s Foreign Ministry as the attack unfolded. The head of the ministry’s Department for Israelis Abroad and Israel’s consul in Serbia, who is responsible for Montenegro, alerted local police. Officers assisted the teenagers and remained in contact with the family during and after the nighttime ordeal. Montenegrin authorities are continuing to investigate the incident.
The incident follows another violent attack on Israelis in Montenegro last month. Around 20 people assaulted a group of young Israelis on a beach after learning they were from Israel, while shouting “Free Palestine.” One victim suffered a broken jaw and was flown to Israel for surgery, while an attacker extinguished a cigarette on another victim. The Israelis said local police initially ignored them when they sought help while bleeding and accused them of “making noise.”
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