American Jewish filmmaker says he was attacked by Arabic speakers in Stockholm
Published December 16, 2016
(JTA) — American journalist Ami Horowitz said he was physically assaulted by men speaking Arabic while filming in an immigrant neighborhood of Stockholm.
Horowitz, who is Jewish, was attacked recently in Husby while filming a documentary about the effects of immigration in Sweden, the British Daily Mail newspaper reported earlier this week. Many Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, as well as southern Asia, live in the neighborhood.
The incident occurred after locals saw Horowitz filming around the neighborhood, a so-called no-go zone. Several men approached the crew and said they did not want to be filmed. Swedish law allows for filming public spaces regardless of the consent of passers-by.
“My crew ran off when they approached, but since I was miked we have the first few seconds of the attack,” said Horowitz, of Los Angeles.
“They repeatedly punched, kicked and choked me, as a number of bystanders watched. Eventually they dragged me into a building, which at the time I assumed was to finish me off,” said Horowitz. But his attackers fled without causing him major physical injury after Horowitz said “someone opened an apartment door directly above us, and it luckily spooked them enough to run away.”
In the recording, Horowitz can be heard asking: “How come it’s a problem to film here?” before an unidentified man answers: “I don’t want to be filmed.”
Horowitz, who also made a documentary called “UN Me” criticizing the United Nations, said he told police about the attack but was told that nothing could be done, the Daily Mail reported.
Last year, Fox News aired footage secretly filmed by Horowitz at three Irish shops. Retailers who boycott Israeli products agreed to do business with Sudan, Iran and North Korea, which Horowitz pretended to represent.
