Two brothers in their twenties, both active reserve soldiers and university students, said they were violently attacked on Friday afternoon while training at the long-running Sporter gym at Dan Panorama Hotel in central Haifa's Carmel Center. They said the gym is a private business and is not connected to the hotel. The brothers, who were on leave after hundreds of days of reserve duty, said the attack began after a dispute with an Arab gym-goer whose child wanted to use equipment they were using, and they gave up the equipment to avoid conflict.
According to the brothers, another exerciser, described as speaking with a Russian accent, pointed them out and said, "These two bastards are doing reserve duty." One brother told him not to interfere, and the Arab man then allegedly shoved him. When the second brother came over to calm the situation, the brothers say the father attacked him with a heavy gym weight of about 20 kilograms, shouted "Itbah al-Yahud" and "Allahu Akbar," and knocked him unconscious. They said the attacker was then joined by his son and the Russian-accented man, who kept beating them, while the first brother was struck repeatedly in the face and threatened, "Today you die."
The brothers allege that other Arab trainees stood by without helping and that the coach took time to intervene. They said that when the second brother woke up and tried to flee into another room, the assailant's son chased him with a sharp object or screwdriver and tried to stab him and hit him with a bottle, while the first brother locked himself in a nearby room. They called police because they could not tell how the other was doing. The brothers said officers arrived about 15 minutes later, acted indifferently, and repeatedly took the first brother's phone when he tried to call an ambulance.
Both attackers fled the hotel, and the brothers were taken to hospital with serious injuries. One suffered severe head injuries, bleeding in the eyes, difficulty seeing, and pain. The other had head injuries, pain, and dizziness. Their lawyer, Haim Bleicher of Honenu, asked police to arrest the suspects, collect security footage, involve the Shin Bet, and investigate the case as terrorism. He said it was a "shocking lynching" against reserve soldiers during wartime. The brothers said they have received no call from police and remain traumatized.
Sporter owner Ariel Gutman said the security cameras were broken and not working, though the brothers said they had been told the footage was erased. Gutman, a former reserve officer, said he is waiting for police findings and that there are conflicting versions of the incident, but stressed that the chain has "zero tolerance for violence and zero tolerance for racism." He said the suspected participant had already been barred from the gym pending clarification. Police said a Haifa station investigation was opened after the report and that they are taking all necessary steps to find the truth.
