Left a show and was attacked at Tel Aviv port: "They didn't just want to beat me - they wanted to kill me"
Idan, a Tel Aviv resident, left a performance by Lihi Toledano at the Barbi club in the Tel Aviv port and was brutally attacked in a homophobic assault. According to him, five men hit him with a helmet and kicked him, and one tried to stab him with a broken bottle. His girlfriend saved him by shouting and filming. He describes an evening that turned from a fight for his life into heartbreak over the loss of a sense of security.
Idan, a Tel Aviv resident, left a performance by Lihi Toledano at the Barbi club in the Tel Aviv port yesterday (Tuesday) with his girlfriend Arel. According to him, a person began to comment on his appearance and shout homophobic slurs at him. When he responded, the attack began: the assailant hit him with a helmet, and then about five more men joined in, kicking him. One of the attackers broke a glass bottle and tried to stab him. His girlfriend Arel shouted and began filming, which scared off the attackers, along with police sirens heard approaching. Idan described the attack as an attempted murder: "They didn't just want to beat me. They wanted to kill me. They actually said that while kicking me." In a post he published, he spoke about the illusion that shattered — that physical strength would protect him from blind hatred. He ended in pain over the loss of his sense of security in his home in Jaffa, a place he chose out of a belief in coexistence.