Jews were attacked on their way to light Hanukkah candles at Neve Shalom Synagogue in Beyoglu, Istanbul, on Sunday night, the eighth night of the holiday.
The attackers can be seen in footage shouting “these Zionists, leave this country” and “we don’t want Zionists.” Local police intervened.
The confrontation came after anti-Israel groups and individuals planned a protest against the Hanukkah event, as it was reportedly organized by a “pro-IDF” Jewish tour guide named Emi Uygun.
'We don’t want Zionist Emi Uygun in our country'
As evidence, the anti-Israel groups shared screenshots of Uygun’s social media comments and posts, which included a sad face and “rest in peace, beautiful souls” on posts by Stand With Us about fallen soldiers.
She also posted celebratory comments under posts about the killing of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh.
“We don’t want to see Zionist Emi Uygun in our country. We will continue to expose her and other such Zionists with blood on their hands one by one,” said one pro-Palestinian group.
Uygun has apparently deleted her Instagram account, as the user is no longer found.
However, The Jerusalem Post assessed her LinkedIn profile, which shows she specializes in Jewish Heritage tours in Turkey. She has also consistently posted support for Israel, spoken about Israeli hostages, and posted in memory of fallen soldiers.
According to a biography on the page “Private Guide World,” Uygun has been a guide since 2000. She also speaks English and Hebrew and is originally from Izmir.
One of the protesters posted on X/Twitter that police and Special Operations 24/7 broke apart the protest to “protect the Zionists.”
“They are protecting the Zionist killers as if they were a human shield,” said Hakan Begdilli. “Even filming a video from the opposite sidewalk is prohibited.”
The Instagram page of one of the participating groups, Filistinle Dayanisma Dostlari, revealed that the protest was planned. On Sunday morning, the group posted a picture of a hanukkiah splattered with blood, with a red handprint on it, alongside the time and location of the lighting.
Later, it posted footage from the incident alongside “What is Hanukkah? It is a Jewish holiday celebrated for 2,200 years in honor of the retrieval of [Jerusalem] from the hands of the Empire by the Jews in 200s BC. Jerusalem belongs to Muslims. This Zionist doesn’t accept the Eid; we don’t want to see Zionists in our country.”
The Neve Shalom Synagogue has been the target of several terrorist attacks, including a massacre in 1986 that killed 22 people and truck bombings in 2003.