Koh Samui animal park owner investigated for anti-Semitic discrimination

“Stay home Jews, stay away from my park. Don't try (sic), since this morning they have been trying to come. You're going to get smacked, I tell you." A video sequence widely distributed online for several days features a Villeurbanne resident in Thailand, making aggressive and discriminatory remarks towards the Jewish community. Owner of an animal park on the island of Koh Samui, Kevin D. allegedly refused access to an Israeli family because of his nationality. In a video shot during this tense exchange, he threatens his interlocutors in French and English.

This widely broadcast sequence was followed by another in which the owner of the park shows a poster posted at the entrance with an Israeli flag crossed out with a ban, as if to prohibit entry to nationals of this nationality. Right next to it is pinned a shooting target perforated with numerous holes. The case is being investigated in Thailand. From Paris, the deputy for French people abroad Caroline Yadan (EPR) denounced “a feeling of deep disgust at the trivialization of evil”, to a local French-speaking media.

“I am not racist”

Contacted by Le Figaro, the owner, who says he is of Italian origin, claims to have grown up in Villeurbanne with “all the communities”. “I am not racist, I have nothing against Jews,” assures the person concerned, who at the same time assumes “discrimination at the entrance to [his] park”. “Everyone does this here, I’m not the only one,” he continues, claiming to have had disagreements with tourists and local members of the Jewish community.

He says he and his family were threatened with death, supported by screenshots. Threats which would have started even before the publication of the videos, in reaction to the installation of a Palestinian flag in his park. On social networks, several Zionist accounts, notably that of former member of the Jewish Defense League (LDJ) Tony Attal, relayed the controversy and requested reactions from the authorities.