A 24-year-old tour counter worker in Patong has given his account after a video of him confronting an Israeli tourist, telling him "This is Thailand, not your country", spread widely on social media.

The confrontation happened outside a tour counter in Patong, Kathu district, Phuket. The footage shows an Israeli tourist near the counter before an argument develops with a Thai man, who appears angry and tells the visitor to leave.

The video drew a mixture of reactions and criticism online. A reporter later visited the counter and spoke to the worker, identified as Kechin, about what he said led to the exchange.

Kechin says dispute began with misunderstanding

Kechin said he had been working as normal, selling tour packages, and that the incident had no connection to a customer who had bought a rafting trip from him.

He said a Palestinian customer he had served previously had recommended him to a friend and intended to refer more Palestinian customers. A woman known to him had suggested displaying a Palestinian flag when such customers arrived, as a way of building his customer base.

At the same time, an Israeli tourist group was shopping nearby. Kechin said he initially did not pay attention to them and carried on working.

Picture courtesy of Khaosod

According to Kechin, someone in the group then apparently told others that he had displayed a flag to make Israeli visitors leave, or had insulted their nationality.

"That was not the case at all. I did not communicate with them or do anything to them. They came to travel, and that was it," he said.

He said several members of the group later stood outside his shop, looking at him, pointing towards the tour counter and discussing the matter. "At first, I tried to let it go, but it seemed like they deliberately wanted to confront me," he said.

Questions over Palestine led to argument

Kechin said the exchange shown in the video began when people in the group asked whether he supported Palestine and had chosen the Palestinian side.

"I told them, 'No. I just sell tour packages to Palestinian customers,'" he said.

He said one tourist then raised a hand and shouted, "Free Israel", before the argument continued as seen in the viral recording.

Kechin insisted he regularly sells tours to Israeli visitors and does not turn people away because of their nationality. "Israeli tourists also come to buy tours. I serve them normally," he said.

"If they come as friends, I provide equal service to tourists from every country," he added.

Kechin said Israeli tourists are a familiar presence in Patong throughout the year, with some staying briefly and others for longer periods. He said larger groups are especially noticeable on Fridays around Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Road, where many gather for Shabbat-related religious observances.

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25 August 2026

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At first, I tried to let it go, but it seemed like they deliberately wanted to confront me," he said.

Totally 💯 believable.

Chip on the shoulder people always in Karen mode.

Did they ask to speak to your manager?

He's waving the Pally schmatte in a very provocative way.

That doesn't quite fit with the tone of the story he told.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by Jingthing

24 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

At first, I tried to let it go, but it seemed like they deliberately wanted to confront me," he said.

Totally 💯 believable.

Chip on the shoulder people always in Karen mode.

Did they ask to speak to your manager?

Who was confronting who?

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We seem to be getting an inordinate amount of negative commentary directed at Israel, and supportive of Palestine of late. Surprised that many Palestinians come to Thailand given their situation. It almost seems orchestrated.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by jacko45k

44 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

We seem to be getting an inordinate amount of negative commentary directed at Israel, and supportive of Palestine of late. Surprised that many Palestinians come to Thailand given their situation. It almost seems orchestrated.

I doubt there is a large number of tourists in Thailand coming on Palestinian passports.

However, the Palestinian diaspora is very large so I'm sure that Palestinian Americans coming on a US passport would often refer to themselves as Palestinian.

“confronting an Israeli tourist, telling him "This is Thailand, not your country", spread widely on social media.”

Interestingly, I flew from Phuket to Bangkok yesterday. I was the last one on the plane, so almost everyone else was settled.

As I sat down, there was a big commotion in the row behind mine. A young Thai lady in the window seat was shouting at a middle aged foreign lady sitting in the aisle seat, with a youngish foreign lady sitting between them. The flight attendant came over and tried to calm down the Thai lady who was getting very agitated and shouting louder and louder. The foreigner seemed to more or less stay quiet. The two protagonists flapped a few hands at each other, but what with seat belts and passengers crammed in like sardines, they couldn’t really reach each other.

Anyway, what struck me at the time was that the Thai lady kept repeating two phrases over and over in English. One was “why do you look at my face” and the other was” this is my country, not yours”

No idea what the former meant, but at the time the latter struck me as very nationalistic. And now I read about the phrase being used again.

The thing is, nationalities don’t matter. It’s the actions of the individuals that determine right and wrong in any dispute.

I do hope that we aren’t going to get more and more of this “it’s my country so you are wrong” style of sentiment. It’s not a good feeling.

I am skeptical about parts of this report:

4 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

He said one tourist then raised a hand and shouted, "Free Israel", before the argument continued as seen in the viral recording.

I have never in my life heard any Israeli or other Jew shout, "Free Israel." That doesn't make sense, as it would imply Israel is occupied.

The slogan an Israeli might use is "Am Yisrael Chai" ("The people of Israel live"), but it is in Hebrew and a Thai wouldn't understand. It also doesn't really fit the circumstances.

One of the Israelis may have said, "<deleted> you," but that is unclear. You can't hear it and it only appears in the onscreen text of the dialogue. The way the Thai guy is shouting and furiously waving the small Palestinian flag seems to bemuse the Israelis more than make them angry.

I've looked for an Israeli version of the incident, but haven't found one yet. These minor confrontations are getting a lot of attention in the pro-Palestine media and social media. Odd, very odd.

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

almost seems orchestrated.

Orchestrated? By whom? For what?

Tell me

4 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

“confronting an Israeli tourist, telling him "This is Thailand, not your country", spread widely on social media.”

Interestingly, I flew from Phuket to Bangkok yesterday. I was the last one on the plane, so almost everyone else was settled.

As I sat down, there was a big commotion in the row behind mine. A young Thai lady in the window seat was shouting at a middle aged foreign lady sitting in the aisle seat, with a youngish foreign lady sitting between them. The flight attendant came over and tried to calm down the Thai lady who was getting very agitated and shouting louder and louder. The foreigner seemed to more or less stay quiet. The two protagonists flapped a few hands at each other, but what with seat belts and passengers crammed in like sardines, they couldn’t really reach each other.

Anyway, what struck me at the time was that the Thai lady kept repeating two phrases over and over in English. One was “why do you look at my face” and the other was” this is my country, not yours”

No idea what the former meant, but at the time the latter struck me as very nationalistic. And now I read about the phrase being used again.

The thing is, nationalities don’t matter. It’s the actions of the individuals that determine right and wrong in any dispute.

I do hope that we aren’t going to get more and more of this “it’s my country so you are wrong” style of sentiment. It’s not a good feeling.

Maybe it's more like "It's my country, not yours, so respect our culture and don't be an entitled Karen" which I would agree with. There are too many badly behaved foreigners disrespecting the people and culture.

11 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Maybe it's more like "It's my country, not yours, so respect our culture and don't be an entitled Karen" which I would agree with. There are too many badly behaved foreigners disrespecting the people and culture.

Possibly. I didn’t see what caused the dispute on the plane, so don’t know if the foreign lady did anything wrong.

But I’m not sure what Thai culture is present on a plane. It’s not like it’s a temple.

There is normal plane etiquette, but that’s pretty much nationality neutral.

Anyway, just interesting that a phrase I hadn’t come across before is suddenly heard twice within 24 hours.

Edited August 25Aug 25 by wensiensheng

This is going to get out of hand on social media in Thailand and in Israel as "wannabe influencers" on both sides bait people for confrontation to make a video for clicks.

Neither side will care what it will do to the tourism industry here.

30 minutes ago, Evil Penevil said:

I have never in my life heard any Israeli or other Jew shout, "Free Israel." That doesn't make sense, as it would imply Israel is occupied.

I suspect it's more like responding to "screw you" with "no, screw you", when neither side is really getting screwed.

It's not rational. It's just something people say in the heat of the moment.

5 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

He said one tourist then raised a hand and shouted, "Free Israel", before the argument continued as seen in the viral recording.

That's as idiotic as British tourist in India shouting "Free United Kingdom" during colonial times...

An Israeli has no right to tell a Thai in Thailand to say or do anything. Period.

Cultural Misunderstanding. On one hand displaying a Palestinian Flag someplace known for Israeli visitors is sure to get a significant reaction.

At best naive, at worst deliberately provocative. On the other Thai’s are rightly proud and highly Nationalistic people. Respect that, if not you can expect to face severe consequences.

People from any nationality have every right to be disgusted about the genocide Israel has caused and is still happily waging.

In this particular case the Thai, unusually, was aggressive in both speech and manner.

7 minutes ago, Jo M said:

It seems that the article and the video are not connected.

In the article the response of the Thai seller is sweet mouthed and so civilized...

However, the video shows an angry man, provocative, Pally political supportive, who tries with all his heart to provoke and fight with a large family, who tries to avoid the confrontation, and only want to go away.

It's for the reasonable reader to decide...

Do you know how to read and comprehend? He stated what happened .. before the video. No one was stopping the Israelis from walking away. But they clearly were not interested in peace. Shocker. The man was only defending himself at the time of the video .. from the provocative action of the Israeli man .. just as their country is well known for.

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

Orchestrated? By whom? For what?

Tell me

Not sure in the least but it does seem orchestrated. The vendor got caught being racist IMO and then created a more palatable story of why he put the flag up. He in all likelihood doesn't cater to Palestinians because there are so few of them booking tour packages. Many racists in Thailand in regards to Israelis and that is why the flag was put up. Could be wrong but I doubt it.

many people need to hate and Israelis are an easy target. You will never catch me being a racist and find it disgusting and a habit of the mentally weak.

28 minutes ago, AustinRacing said:

An Israeli has no right to tell a Thai in Thailand to say or do anything. Period.

"Could I have my eggs scrambled instead of sunny side up?" Can they say this?

How about posting an Israeli flag crossing with Palestinian? He's had Israeli customers, so would fit reasoning.

This way he could piss off everyone...

1 minute ago, Emdog said:

"Could I have my eggs scrambled instead of sunny side up?" Can they say this?

How about posting an Israeli flag crossing with Palestinian? He's had Israeli customers, so would fit reasoning.

This way he could piss off everyone...

Yeah why not😂😂😂. He can say anything in his country (Thai guy) as long as he’s not breaking the law. Regarding the eggs he can ask for scrambled but the sunny side up maybe hard to explain 😂😂😂

Israelis seem to think we all hate who they hate whereas most of us are live and let live for both sides. They can’t see any sympathy is evaporating for their Hamas cause by the way they treat others. Maybe they’re not the right side to back!

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Het lijkt erop dat we buitensporig veel negatief commentaar krijgen, gericht op Israël, en dat we Palestina de laatste tijd steunen. Verrast dat veel Palestijnen naar Thailand komen gezien hun situatie. Het lijkt bijna georkestreerd.

Apparently, things aren’t doing too badly for those Palestinians after all; after all, they have enough money to come to LOS.

The mainstream media would have us believe the opposite.

6 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

Apparently, things aren’t doing too badly for those Palestinians after all; after all, they have enough money to come to LOS.

The mainstream media would have us believe the opposite.

Duh. You do know Palestinian/Americans .. Palestinian/Brits .. Palestinian blood lines living in many OTHER places in the world .. are the Palestinians who have any means to travel and not be persecuted. Yes, let's not listen to news reports and see with our own eyes what Israel is doing to the Palestinians .. let's listen to Peter. Lol.

Edited August 25Aug 25 by AaronBux1

I assume people mighr say Free Israel in response to the Free Pally chant. Its makes sense in that context.

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

We seem to be getting an inordinate amount of negative commentary directed at Israel, and supportive of Palestine of late. Surprised that many Palestinians come to Thailand given their situation. It almost seems orchestrated.

I have always taken the view, "A plague on both your houses". If Irael and Palestine both disappeared off the planet, it would be a better place.

Thousands of years of religious bigotry and so-called "civilisation" do not appear to have achieved much good for humanity....... anywhere!

3 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

In this particular case the Thai, unusually, was aggressive in both speech and manner.

Imagine what went on before, must have been quite upsetting to get that reaction from the Thai.

8 minutes ago, diveasia666 said:

Imagine what went on before, must have been quite upsetting to get that reaction from the Thai.

let's us all imagine and avoid the reality.