Israeli Journalist Attacked in Belfast Filming Documentary

הכתב יונתן רוה מספר לכיכר השבת על רגעי הפחד

"It was a frightening incident, without a doubt," Yonatan Rowe told Kikar Hashabbat in an interview about the assault he and cameraman Nadav Aves experienced in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Rowe, a correspondent for i24NEWS, explained that his team had traveled to Belfast as part of a documentary series examining antisemitism and attitudes toward Israel on European streets. The crew doesn't hide their Israeli identity, in fact, they make a point of revealing it during conversations with locals. In most cases, Rowe said, these exchanges proceed without incident, even when speaking with people who hold highly critical views of Israel.

But this time was different. Once the individual realized he was dealing with an Israeli crew, the atmosphere shifted rapidly. Rowe emphasized that his team doesn't go into the field looking for confrontation or violence, they're there to talk with people and understand public sentiment.

According to Rowe, the Belfast incident doesn't necessarily represent all of Northern Ireland's population, but it does illustrate the complex reality Israelis face on European streets today.

While Rowe said he does manage to find people who express support for Israel, locating them has become increasingly difficult. "We search hard for them, we look thoroughly, and we find them," he said. "But it's becoming a very, very difficult task."

Even people who don't participate in anti-Israel demonstrations may hold deeply negative views of the country, he noted. "The vast majority, even if they don't go out and demonstrate in the streets against Israel, their position overall is very, very negative toward us," he said.

Rowe was particularly critical of Israel's public diplomacy efforts, arguing that the country isn't doing enough to reach European audiences, especially younger generations. "I think the hasbara is too small, bordering on non-existent," he said. While Israeli attempts to explain the country's position do exist, they're insufficient against the volume of negative narratives circulating globally, he argued.

He stressed the importance of a young person's first encounter with Israel. "There's a person today living in New York, London, Paris, wherever you want, and at some point for the first time in their life they'll hear the word Israel," he explained. "I think that initial exposure is very, very important."

If a child or young person's first encounter with Israel occurs in a context where it's presented as a state committing "genocide," it becomes extremely difficult to change that perception later, he said.

Rowe also discussed his recent coverage in Spain, where he found the picture more nuanced. He distinguished between classical antisemitism and hostility toward Israel and Zionism. "I think Spain's sentiment, from my perspective, is more anti-Zionist and less antisemitic as we traditionally know it," he said. The discourse there often focuses on Israel, Zionism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than hatred of Jews as Jews, though he acknowledged the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism can be very thin.

When asked what he would wish for Europeans given rising antisemitism, Rowe replied: "Let's hope for a day when we won't have to be afraid to shout out our Israeliness in Europe."

The Belfast incident is the third installment in Rowe's documentary project on antisemitism. Previous episodes were filmed in Spain and New York, and the Northern Ireland segment is expected to air in the coming weeks.

The event itself, captured on the crew's cameras, vividly illustrates the gap between public discussion about antisemitism and direct encounters with Israelis on European streets: a team that came to document the phenomenon found themselves becoming targets of violence simply because the attacker realized they were Israeli media professionals.