Rafi Shotz, Israel's ambassador to Spain, was verbally abused with anti-Semitic slogans as he walked home from a soccer match in Madrid. Three fans followed Shotz calling him "dirty Jew," "Jew bastard" and "Jew murderer," according to Israeli newspaper reports. The attackers likely recognized Shotz from his Spanish television appearances during Israel's military operation in Gaza.
Two Spanish police escorted Shotz and his wife to prevent physical harm. Many bystanders witnessed the incident but no one stepped in, according to the reports. "It was an ugly incident, the kind one hears about or reads about in a newspaper, but to experience personally the force of hatred and anti-Semitism is difficult and emotionally charged," Shotz told the Israeli paper 'Ha'aretz'. An official from the Spanish Foreign Ministry and the Spanish ambassador in Israel called Shotz and offered apologies, according to Ha'aretz.