Young Israelis rile up Thailand’s Pai town with their bad behaviour
Many of these Israeli visitors converging at the northern Thai town have either left the army or are taking a break from the Gaza war
A sleepy northern Thai town famous for its easy riverside vibes is struggling to cope with thousands of young Israeli visitors, many of them letting off steam after serving in Israel’s army, with a slew of arrests, scuffles and reports of shoplifting upsetting residents and fuelling a social media backlash.
Pai, in the Mae Hong Song province, a few hours drive north of Chiang Mai, has long drawn travellers craving spiritual release as well as parties in the mountainside town.
But there is trouble in the tropical paradise after a surge in the number of Israeli visitors, many of whom have recently left the Israeli army, which has been observing a fragile weeks-long ceasefire following its long assault on Gaza.
On February 6, four Israelis in their mid-20s were arrested in Pai after a fracas with medical staff at a clinic where their friend was being treated following a motorbike accident.
That opened the floodgates to complaints which whizzed across social media, over Israelis allegedly causing a nuisance across the town, from motorbike crashes to urinating in public, with reports of these incidents landing on the desk of local police.
“The complaints say they are drunk and rowdy… they steal,” Police Major Kriengkrai Sansalee told This Week in Asia. “[People say] they come in large groups, spend a little and bargain a lot. Local businesses are affected the most because when they come, other tourists go elsewhere.”