Thai FM Urges Israelis: Obey Our Laws, Respect Our Culture

 

Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow held a blunt meeting with Israel's ambassador after a string of incidents in Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui.
 

 

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, issued a stern public warning on Tuesday that all foreigners in the Kingdom must abide by Thai law and respect local customs, following a direct and, by his own account, uncomfortably frank meeting with Israel's ambassador to Thailand, Dr Alona Fisher-Kamm.

 

Briefing reporters immediately after the bilateral meeting, Sihasak did not mince his words.

 

"This was a frank, straight-to-the-point conversation," he said. "The issue is one that is causing real concern among Thai people – it concerns a series of incidents involving Israeli nationals in Thailand, whether they are tourists or those running businesses here."

Tuesday's meeting did not happen in a vacuum. It capped months of mounting tension between Thai communities and Israeli visitors and expatriates in popular tourist areas, most notably Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and the northern town of Pai – all destinations where sizeable, semi-permanent Israeli communities have taken root.

 

 

The most explosive flashpoint came out of Koh Samui in August, when a personal row between an Israeli restaurant owner, referred to locally as "Jacob", and a French businessman running the Samui Exotic Park zoo escalated dramatically.

 

After a dispute with an Israeli visitor, the French zoo operator put up a Palestinian flag and a sign barring Israelis from entering. The Israeli owner demanded it be taken down; when he refused, footage of the confrontation went viral, an Israeli influencer reportedly offered a 500,000-baht bounty for information leading to the Frenchman, and the row spiralled into threats, arson allegations in France and eventually a Thai court fining the Israeli man and handing him a suspended sentence.

 

Thai authorities in Surat Thani subsequently moved to revoke the visas of both men and have them deported, warning that the affair risked being wrongly framed as a wider conflict between Israeli tourists and Thai residents rather than a personal dispute.

Frustration has also built from the ground up. On 24 August, members of a Thai activist group calling itself Thai Mai Thon ("Thais Won't Tolerate It") delivered a letter to the Israeli embassy in Bangkok, citing complaints of intimidation, harassment and property disputes involving Israeli nationals in Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Pai.

 

Its leader, Tae Achiwa, was careful to draw a distinction between the domestic grievance and Middle East politics: "We came peacefully. I'm not here to call for 'Free Palestine'. Your war is your war. Today I'm here because Thai people are suffering from tourists who come into the country, and you are not urging your tourists to behave."
 

 

Separately, a Samui zoo owner filed a complaint alleging threats from Israeli tourists, while in Surat Thani the Israeli ambassador had earlier asked provincial police to help ensure the safety of Israeli visitors amid what she described as a social media backlash.

 

Israel's embassy in Bangkok had already warned its citizens in May that Phuket authorities were toughening law enforcement.

 

It was against this backdrop that Sihasak summoned Ambassador Fisher-Kamm for Tuesday's meeting.

 

 

Two categories of problem, one message

Sihasak told reporters he had drawn a clear distinction for the ambassador between two separate issues.

 

The first involves Israeli nationals who have settled in Thailand long-term to run businesses and who have broken Thai law – a reference, he confirmed, to cases such as the Koh Samui dispute involving an Israeli and a French national.

 

"I explained clearly to the ambassador that in these cases, we will enforce the law without exception," he said. "But this is not discrimination against Israelis. Any foreigner, of any nationality, who breaks the law in Thailand will face the same strict enforcement."

 

The second, and the main focus of Tuesday's talks, concerns the everyday conduct of Israeli tourists – both short- and long-stay visitors – whose behaviour, he said, has wounded local sentiment and jarred with Thai culture, traditions and community life, particularly in places such as Pattaya and Phuket, where Israeli visitors tend to cluster.

 

"This is something we cannot afford to be complacent about," Sihasak said. "Thailand is a country that welcomes tourists, but our hospitality does not mean that visitors, whatever their nationality, can do as they please here. Tourists who come to Thailand must understand our culture and traditions – in the same way we expect Thai tourists travelling abroad to respect the customs and values of the countries they visit."

 

He was careful, however, to avoid tarring an entire nationality with the same brush.

 

"We are not painting every Israeli with the same brush, because this is not the conduct of all Israelis," he said. "But we do have a number of Israelis who ought to show far greater respect for Thai traditions, culture, values and the Thai way of life than they currently do."

 

 

Israel's response: acknowledgement, but Bangkok wants more urgency

According to Sihasak, Ambassador Fisher-Kamm did not dispute the substance of Thailand's concerns.

 

He said she acknowledged the problem and insisted Israel was not sitting idle, pointing to on-the-ground outreach her embassy has already been conducting – a pattern consistent with recent visits by Israeli diplomats to trouble spots such as Pai and Surat Thani to meet local officials, police and Israeli residents directly.

 

Concretely, Sihasak said the Israeli side is distributing guidance material — essentially a "dos and don'ts" briefing for Israelis travelling to Thailand — through its embassy in Bangkok and through a government centre in Jerusalem.

 

He added that Israeli travel agencies that send tourists to Thailand, as well as airlines serving the route, have also agreed to cooperate in circulating the guidance.

 

Even so, Sihasak made clear he wants the response accelerated.

 

"For my part, these efforts need to be stepped up and made more intensive, and we need to work together on this," he said. "What we do not want is a situation where, if nothing further is done, this ends up damaging relations between our two countries."

 

Ambassador Fisher-Kamm has also set out her own position publicly. In a recent interview with the Bangkok Post, she said Israel was well aware of the problem and had already taken steps to urge every Israeli visiting Thailand to show the highest respect for Thai law, the Thai people and Thai culture.

 

She said she understood and backed the position of Thai authorities, adding that any Israeli found to have broken the law deserved to be punished under Thai sovereignty and that Israel would not intervene on such cases. The only circumstance in which Israel would step in, she said, was if an Israeli national who had not broken Thai law came to harm.

 

Sihasak pointed to the practical stakes on both sides. Thailand and Israel maintain significant mutual interests, he noted, including cooperation in agriculture and, crucially, labour ties: an estimated 60,000 Thai workers are currently employed in Israel.

 

"That is why we need to manage this problem urgently," he said.

 

 

Tourism, dignity and the limits of hospitality

Sihasak closed his remarks by framing the issue as one of national dignity as much as public order.

 

"Tourism in Thailand matters greatly to us, but it isn't only about revenue," he said. "We also value our own honour and dignity. It isn't the case that tourists can bring money into Thailand and then do whatever they like — that isn't how it works. Of course, tourism remains an important channel for strengthening good relations between our peoples, which is exactly why the conduct of tourists inevitably affects the relationship between our two countries."

 

He said he had asked the Israeli ambassador directly "not to be complacent" and to help her citizens understand how their behaviour is being perceived by ordinary Thais.

 

Sihasak did not take questions from journalists after the briefing, as he was due to attend a cabinet meeting shortly afterwards.