Violence Erupts Outside Chabad House in Sri Lanka

There are five Chabad Houses across Sri Lanka for Jewish travelers, offering them kosher food, a synagogue and Shabbat meals.

By Etgar Lefkovitz, JNS

A newly opened Chabad House in the South Asian country of Sri Lanka was the target of a violent demonstration on Friday night, with protesters hurling stones and firecrackers in the direction of the Jewish center and menacing Israeli travelers on the way to services, the Chabad rabbi said Sunday.

The unusual violence directed at the Chabad House in the Sri Lankan beach town of Hiriketiya, which opened its doors just two weeks ago, followed a social media campaign by a small group of locals claiming the Jewish center was illegal and that the Israeli tourists would scare international tourists away.

“The fuel here is antisemitism,” Chabad Rabbi Yossi Gabai told JNS on Sunday.

The multi-religious island nation is primarily Buddhist. Many European tourists frequent the town where the weekend violence took place.

There are five Chabad Houses across Sri Lanka for Jewish travelers, offering them kosher food, a synagogue and Shabbat meals.

Gabai said about 200 protesters turned out on Friday night, with local police being called to disperse them.

About 30 people attended the Shabbat dinner, primarily Israelis, the rabbi said.

“It was very unpleasant,” he said. “People were afraid to come.”

The demonstrators returned on Saturday night, he said.

Chabad connected with the Sri Lankan authorities and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to report the incidents.

While the state authorities were supportive, Gabai said that local police were trying to pressure them to leave the town, but that they are determined to stay.

“We knew that there were problems here before with Iranians, but we did not expect anything like this,” he said. “We didn’t even put the sign up on the building yet.”

More than 3,500 Chabad Houses operate in over 100 countries around the globe.