Hundreds watched as a gay couple was attacked in public. Only one man helped.
A violent mob attack on two young gay men has shaken Israel as shocking video circulates of a lone man coming to their rescue while hundreds watched and did nothing to help.
The couple was attacked at the Joffa Port by a group of about 20 men. Itzik Avneri, the owner of the boat next to where the attack took place, helped fend off the men, going so far as to throw one man in the water.
“I have a tour boat in the port, and there was the holiday [of Eid al-Adha] for the past few days when a lot of Muslims come to the port to have a good time and take a cruise,” Avneri told Haaretz. “Two guys got on the boat to go sailing and when it ended, they got off and sat on the dock next to each other. Other people saw them and spat at them.”
Avneri said he asked the group why they had spat on the men, and was told, “Because we’re Arabs and they’re gays, and there won’t be gays among the Arabs, it gives Arabs a bad name.”
The couple went to eat, ignoring the group to avoid conflict. But when they came out of the restaurant, the men attacked as onlookers recorded the incident on video and stepped away from the melee. One of the men was able to pull out pepper spray, immediately knocking over a dozen of the men out of the fight.
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