On the way to check-in: Hateful addresses against Israel at the main airport in Europe

Rotem Ovadia, a doctoral student in physics at the Hebrew University, flew last week to a conference held in Sao Paulo. After the conference he continued to Madrid, and arrived this morning at the Spanish airport to board the flight back to Israel.

After going through the check-in procedure, he proceeded to the security check-in area, and on the way he noticed the signs directing the passengers to the flight to Israel, defaced with hateful inscriptions such as ASESINOS SMELL SHIT (“Murderers smell like shit”). The signs were placed on the way to the boarding gate, in the public area of ​​the field that is accessible to all travelers from around the world.

“Apparently someone vandalized it shortly before we arrived, and it is worrisome to see something like this at an airport that is supposed to be monitored and protected, especially in view of the deterioration of the security situation today,” says Tomer in a conversation with mako. “For me this is another reminder of the sharp rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, every time I fly to countries in the Union it becomes more blatant. I approached the El Al staff and informed them about it and where it was and they started treating the field workers.”

As I recall, this is not the first time that Israelis have encountered a hostile attitude at the airport in Madrid. About four months ago, an Israeli who arrived at the private lounge complex at the airport and was waiting for his onward flight was attacked by two men who recognized his accent and demanded to know where he was from. “I said I was Israeli, and then they got into me with their shoulders and one of them grabbed me and shouted ‘fruit of Palestine’,” the passenger recalled in a conversation with mako. “They continued to speak in a violent tone and this incident was witnessed, but no one intervened until one with an English accent came and tried to help me. I was surprised that this happened to me especially in the lounge, the last place I thought such a thing could happen.”