In an interview with an Israeli media outlet published earlier this week, Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Alona Fisher-Kamm acknowledged that anti-Israel sentiment in Thailand had shifted from anger among some Thais over rude Israeli tourists, law-breaking tourists and expats to people chanting “Free Palestine” outside the embassy.
In an interview with Ynetnews, an Israeli news website, the article noted that Fisher-Kamm said the protest outside the embassy “also demonstrated that the issue had begun to extend beyond tourism.”
Ynetnews then quoted the ambassador:
“If the demonstration had only been about improving Israeli behavior or opposing the presence of Israelis in Thailand, then chants of ‘Free Palestine’ and insults against Jews should not have been there.”
Indeed, there are different players in this fluid and rapidly evolving development. So here are some key players and groups worth noticing.
Te Acheewa’s “Thai Intolerance” group
Te was previously known for his video-recorded raid on illegal migrant workers and had established himself as an ultra-royalist before taking up the anti-“Grey Jews” crusade. He staged the first anti-grey-Israeli demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok, a week before the Sondhi Limthongkul-led demonstration at the same site.
He also led some 500 or so demonstrators outside a Chabad House in Patong, Phuket, last week, which eventually led to the cancellation of the Jewish New Year celebrations there after the Chabad House announced that it had been advised by Israeli security authorities not to go ahead with the celebrations.
Although Te originally said his group had nothing to do with what’s happening in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and beyond, but was strictly about Thai affairs, the man, who has a million followers on Facebook, claims that he is now being monitored by Mossad, Israel’s secret service.
He posted the following message (in Thai) earlier this week:
“A message to you, Mossad and your lot:
📌 If you think I’m afraid of you, I wouldn’t be stepping forward to defend Thai people in the first place. 📌
“And most importantly, I fight with the truth and what is right. If you and your followers are unhappy with me, 📍I challenge you right here: come and face me directly. Don’t attack me from behind like a coward. That’s pathetic. 📍
“You are born once and you die once. But what I do will be remembered for a long time, because I “fight for Thai people”. I will never bow my head to you, you fucking bastard, Mossad.
“#TeAcheewa #ThailandWillNotTolerateThis #ThisIsThailand”
On the group’s Facebook page, which has more than 100,000 members, a member shared lessons drawn from what he says is happening in Cyprus.
Here is Najm Murshid’s post (from Thai) to the group from Tuesday night:
“I would suggest that those who act as cheerleaders for Israel, or those who make a living from and benefit economically from Israel, come together and collect signatures calling for Israeli communities to be established in areas near their own homes — including Chabad centres, cemeteries, and the purchase of houses and land in their neighbourhoods.
“Don’t just cheer for or defend Israelis taking over economic areas. Israelis tend to choose beautiful, prime tourist locations when they settle or do business. In Thailand, places such as Pai, Phangan, Samui and Phuket are beautiful and commercially valuable. If Israelis did not move in and establish communities there, Thailand could generate more income from these areas, because much of the revenue currently ends up in Israeli hands rather than reaching Thai people.”
Worth noting that Te did not join the larger demonstration led by the royalist nationalist and former yellowshirt leader Sondhi Limthongkul last week.
Key protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul
A commenter suggested on Khaosod English that the ambassador of Israel should push for the revocation of work permits granted to an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Thai workers in Israel in retaliation for growing anti-Israel sentiment in Thailand. For the record, protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul last Thursday said he would not mind if Thai workers were sent back, as the place is like a war zone anyway.
I think there is a class dimension here, as Sondhi is wealthy. I told the previous Israeli ambassador to Thailand, too, that not that many Thais were outraged at Hamas for killing dozens of Thai workers on 7 October 2023 because the victims were working-class Thais, and the so-called educated middle class and elites could not quite relate to them.
The views of the man who once led a massive demonstration that helped set the stage for military coups in 2006 and again in 2014 are informed by a Thai Muslim figure close to Iran and others who subscribe to a conspiracy theory that Thailand is a target for Zionist neo-colonisation in order to make the kingdom part of Greater Israel.
Sondhi, now 79, is a man of supreme confidence, or, some would say, egotistical. When we serendipitously ended up as fellow detainees almost right after the May 2014 coup staged by then-Army Chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, Sondhi and I conversed inside the military base in Ratchaburi province, where we were detained but free to roam inside the spacious camp.
One afternoon, the deputy commander of the base, an army colonel, sat with us and asked us who we thought would be most suitable to become the new prime minister, now that the coup was a ‘fait accompli’. It didn’t take him long to reply that he thought he was the most qualified person. In the end, as we all know, the post went to Prayut, the man who ordered that our attitude be adjusted. That ‘attitude adjustment’ didn’t work very well on either Sondhi or me.
Thai Muslims and Thai-Malay Muslims
Many, because of their religious identity, oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and beyond. Thailand’s deep south is predominantly populated by Thai-Malay Muslims, and Malaysia doesn’t recognise the state of Israel. It’s thus understandable why some are joining the anti-Israel protests.
Thai Christian evangelists
This is almost a mirror image of what’s happening in the United States due to their interpretation of the Bible and other holy books. And they are very vocal in presenting themselves as Thai friends of Israel in this troubled time.
One posted a picture of himself presenting a garland to Fisher-Kamm a few days ago, while another, a female Thai evangelical preacher using a Facebook account called Overflame, posted the following message in Thai this week.
“Are we becoming tools of hatred?”
Why do distant issues [in Gaza & the occupied West Bank] make us furiously angry, 😱 yet when it comes to issues close to home—like the insurgent groups in the Deep South
that have claimed over 7,800 Thai lives…
we stay silent? ❌⚠️
“Before chasing anyone away, take a moment to ask yourself:
Is this inner anger truly yours, or did someone tell you to hate?”
Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Alona Fisher-Kamm
It is notable that Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Alona Fisher-Kamm did not send anyone to meet Te Acheewa or receive his letter. Although Sondhi said he had been invited to a “private talk” with the ambassador, he said at last week’s protest that he would not accept the offer.
Fisher-Kamm has been giving selected interviews to a series of Thai media outlets over the past two weeks. One journalist, Watcharin Setakudan from MCOT, posted on Facebook a few days later that she had been accused by some of doing work for an embassy, a reference to the Israeli Embassy.
“I’m really confused… all of a sudden, I found myself being accused of accepting work from an embassy.”
Watcharin’s more detailed Facebook post defending herself was deleted, however.
In such interviews, the embassy would normally request that questions be submitted in advance, unlike at a press conference, where many Thai journalists can try to ask impromptu questions that could be undesirably critical or explosive. That may explain why the Israeli ambassador has so far chosen not to hold a press conference but has instead invited the ‘friendly’ or potentially ‘less critical’ local press, one by one, to interview her.
The Israeli ambassador also tries not to connect the growing resentment in Thailand with the fact that it is partly driven by those who are against the atrocities and cruelty in Gaza and the West Bank, and by the fact that many young Israeli tourists in Thailand were former IDF soldiers. The continuing occupation of the West Bank and how Israel has extended its military control into Gaza do not inspire confidence among Thais critical of Israel. The fear that Israel will take root in Thailand and subvert indigenous sovereignty is real for those Thais following what’s happening around Israel.
It’s ‘understandable’ why the Israeli ambassador may not want to fully acknowledge that the Pandora’s box recently opened is linked to what’s happening in the Middle East. A press conference would almost inevitably invite such questions from the Thai press. Questions about what’s happening in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, or the controversies over the latest award-winning documentary films Naza are not something the Israeli ambassador to Thailand would like to answer at a presser.
In terms of strategy, the Embassy will likely try to sit out the storm, hoping that the issues will die down in the next few weeks as many Thais seem to suffer from acute attention span deficiency syndrome.
Psi Samut
Estranged scion of the Singha Beer Empire, Psi is charismatic, a household name because of past political drama and an angry outburst against a Westerner who said ‘Ni Hao’ to him instead of saying something in Thai. He’s not known for being diplomatic in his speech, and when I interviewed him on Facebook Live last week in English and asked what message he had for the Israeli ambassador, Psi replied:
“Get the f**k out. We don’t want you here. We don’t want you or your IDF soldiers in Thailand.
“We are a nation of peace, but we’re not scared to kick your ass,” he added.
The Thai Media
Virtually all mainstream Thai media outlets have jumped into the story, which has attracted considerable interest among Thais. Most are trying to maintain a level of balance and impartiality in their reporting, with the notable exception of Sondhi’s media empire.
Thai Social Media Users
For Thai social media users, it’s a free-for-all cacophony, with all sorts of fake news and extreme, one-sided views spreading — whether pro- or anti-Israel, though mostly anti-Israel.
Historical Xenophobia in Siam
I am reminded of the incident at the end of King Narai the Great’s reign (ruled 1656 to 1688). According to various historical records, the last year of his reign was marked by widespread xenophobia among the elites and rumours that the French, who had been unsuccessfully trying to convert the king to Catholicism, would try to colonise Siam. In the end, French troops were pushed out of Siam after clashes following a coup and the king’s death.
“The political involvement of the French in Siam lasted less than a decade… The new element in 1688 as the people of Ayutthaya and Lopburi, egged on by the monks to take up weapons to show their discontent,” wrote Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit in their seminal book A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World.
My point is, there is no need for monks now that we have social media egging Thais on about the evil of Zionism and how Thailand should not allow Israelis to take root in Thailand.
While during Narai’s reign, according to the authors, the fears were about French officers outside the system of Siamese supervision, now it’s about Chabad Houses deemed by critics as operating as if they were not in Thailand, and the claim that all young Israeli tourists, male and female, have served in the IDF and know how to use weapons, if not having committed, as some say, ‘war crimes’.
Free Palestine Groups and Socialist groups in Thailand
Lek Patchanee, coordinator of the Socialist Workers Thailand (SWT) group, which was arguably the first organised group to stage a small public protest against Israel’s invasion of Gaza shortly after Hamas’ killings on 7 October, told this writer by phone on Wednesday afternoon that she and her group decided not to join Sondhi’s protest last week because they disagree with Sondhi’s form of nationalism and for other reasons.
She told me:
“This group came out due to nationalism. We don’t want to join them. Their politics are very narrow. During the tension with Cambodia, this group behaved similarly. They do not consider the complexity of international politics. We don’t trust them. We’re more international… We cannot support nationalism that promotes violence.
“They are very nationalistic and pay no attention to the issue of peace and ceasefire [with Cambodia last year]. They say loving the country itself suffices.”
When I mentioned that some pro-Palestine demonstrators did join Sondhi’s protest last week outside the Israeli Embassy, Lek said she was aware that members of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC) were there and added that the group’s focus is on a single issue, Palestine, and it had decided to join forces with whoever could give them a platform.
“I don’t think they would be more international or democratic,” Lek said, adding that she believes Thai workers in Israel should leave because Israel uses them to replace Palestinian workers and what is happening there is a new form of colonialism.