SURAT THANI — 20 August 2026, The Koh Samui Provincial Court has fined an Israeli man 5,000 baht for making a threat against the life of a Thai woman who operates a zoo on Koh Samui.
Koh Samui police said on Thursday, 20 August, that before the court hearing, Jindarat Sattayapun, owner of Samui Exotic Park, and Kevin, her French-Italian husband, filed a complaint after an Israeli man posted a threat against her life on Facebook. Police identified the suspect only as Jacob.
After learning of the post, police set up a checkpoint in front of Samui Exotic Park on 15 August and later arrested Jacob. He was subsequently taken to court over the alleged offence.
The court imposed a 5,000-baht fine but suspended its enforcement for two years. Authorities also ordered the Israeli visitor to comply with Thai law.
Koh Samui police said they were also searching for another person who allegedly claimed he was offered a 500,000-baht bounty for the zoo owner’s death.
Separate reports said an Israeli national had posted a demand for Jindarat to close her zoo and leave Koh Samui.
The dispute began after an Israeli couple and their two children reportedly claimed they had been refused entry to Samui Exotic Park on 12 August.
Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said he had received reports of disputes between the Thai zoo operator and Israeli expatriates living on the island.
Jindarat recently explained that she had decided to refuse admission to Israeli visitors after alleging that several had failed to pay entrance fees, taken animal feed from other visitors’ baskets, violated zoo rules and squirted milk into the faces of her pigs.
The dispute has also been linked to an arson attack in France.
According to French media reports published on 19 August, a car was set on fire at about 05:00 on Wednesday in Villeurbanne, near Lyon. Two Molotov cocktails were reportedly found at the scene, one of them intact. The fire spread to a garden and garage.
The report said the incident may have originated from the controversy in Thailand involving a young man from Villeurbanne who is reportedly associated with the zoo on Koh Samui. He has been accused of antisemitic words and actions at the facility, although the allegations were not independently established in the report.
Samui Exotic Park has said it no longer wants to receive Israeli visitors, a decision criticised as discriminatory, while also saying it has been subjected to a campaign of harassment and denigration.
On Tuesday, 18 August, the park reportedly posted a photograph on social media showing an Israeli flag crossed out by a prohibition sign beside a human-shaped target used for shooting practice. The accompanying comment read, “Magnifique” (“Magnificent”).
The circumstances and possible links between the French arson case and the dispute in Koh Samui remain under investigation.