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Israeli TV crew attacked with glass mug while filming antisemitism documentary in Belfast
i24NEWS cameraman Nadav Abbas was struck in the head after a man allegedly shouted “f* Israel” at the crew
An Israeli television cameraman was hit in the head with a glass beer mug while filming a documentary about antisemitism in Belfast.
A man in his 30s has since been arrested and charged in connection with the attack, i24NEWS reported on Monday.
He has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, assaulting a police officer and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. The investigation remains ongoing.
i24NEWS reporter Yonatan Raveh and cameraman Nadav Abbas were carrying out street interviews in the Northern Irish capital when they were approached by a man who allegedly became aggressive after learning they were from Israel.
Abbas suffered a cut to his head after the man threw a large glass mug at him, according to Raveh, who described the attack in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
Raveh said the pair had been speaking to two people near a bar complex when the man approached them, apparently after overhearing that they were Israeli.
“He came over to us and started asking questions. We put the camera on him, and then he gave us the middle finger and shouted ‘f*** Israel,’” Raveh told the Post.
The journalist attempted to leave rather than engage with him, but Raveh said the man followed them and tried to grab their camera equipment.
“We were not looking for any trouble; we were trying to be as peaceful as we can get, and we just walked away. But he started to follow us.”
The confrontation escalated when the man threw the beer mug, which struck Abbas in the head and left him bleeding.
Security staff then intervened and took the crew inside the bar. Raveh said they were told police had been called, but the pair left before officers arrived after the attacker disappeared.
The crew had been in Belfast as part of an i24NEWS documentary project examining antisemitism in different parts of the world.
Raveh said they had encountered verbal abuse in Northern Ireland before the physical attack and described Belfast as deeply divided in its attitudes towards Israel.
“In the specific case of Belfast, the city is kind of divided; it’s like two tribes inside the same city. The Irish Catholics were very anti-Israel, very pro-Palestinian, and the Protestants were pro-Israel.”
He told the Post the crew had also faced threatening encounters while filming elsewhere, including Madrid, where pro-Palestinian protesters allegedly surrounded them and demanded they erase footage.
“It wasn’t super, super violent, but it was a pretty scary situation. The protesters surrounded us and said, ‘Now you delete the photos, now you delete the materials.’”
Raveh praised Abbas for remaining calm during the Belfast attack, calling him “a brave man” who had handled a “problematic situation” while continuing to film.
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