Israel's Embassy in China Reports Attack on Diplomat

A man said to be an Israeli diplomat was wounded in a knife attack in Beijing on Friday.

An Israeli national employed at the country's embassy in the Chinese capital was attacked and later "treated in the hospital," an embassy spokesperson said. "[H]is condition is stable," the statement said.

The attack did not occur on embassy grounds and was now "under investigation," according to the spokesperson.

In a statement later on Friday, police in Beijing's Chaoyang district said a 50-year-old male—identified as the family member of an Israeli diplomat—had been attacked by a 53-year-old male foreign national, who has since been apprehended.

It was unclear exactly how many people were involved in the incident. Israel's Foreign Ministry did not immediately return Newsweek's request for comment before publication.

"We are shocked by today's attack on an Israeli diplomat in Beijing," U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns wrote on X, formerly Twitter. He said he had spoken to his Israeli counterpart, Ambassador Irit Ben-Abba, and offered Washington's "full support to the Israeli embassy and Israeli community in China."

A 30-second video allegedly capturing the incident surfaced on social media websites shortly after the news broke.

The video showed two men grappling with each other on a sidewalk. One of them thrust at the other multiple times with what appeared to be a knife as people passed by without reacting. The footage then cut to a few moments later, showing one of the men walking away from the scene and the other heading in the opposite direction with a limp.

Warning this video contains graphic content.

A second video that started making the rounds on X, shortly after the first was uploaded, appeared to show one of the injured men, covered in blood, being attended to near the site of the attack before being transferred to a hospital.

Newsweek was unable to independently verify either video, and the motive behind the attack remained unclear.

"An Israeli diplomat was stabbed today in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. The U.S. Embassy does not have details on the motivation of the attacker, but a former Hamas leader has called for October 13 to be a 'day of rage,' sparking caution in numerous countries around the world," said a notice posted to American citizens in China.

"The U.S. Embassy is not aware of specific threats to U.S. citizens but recommends maintaining vigilance with regard to personal security," the embassy said. "Keep a low profile and do not draw attention to yourself."

The assault occurred as Israel marked the seventh day since the Islamist group Hamas launched the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in history. Israel then struck the Gaza Strip with its heaviest-ever airstrikes.

As of Friday, more than 1,300 people have been killed in Israel, according to Israeli authorities, while Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 1,530, said Palestinian authorities.

Israel said roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead in Gaza were Hamas members.

The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement on Friday ordering more than 1 million Gazans to evacuate within 24 hours and head southward. The statement warned civilians to distance themselves from "Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields."

Hamas' attack on Israel was met with a mixed response among Chinese netizens.

Earlier this week, the Israeli embassy disabled comments on its account on Chinese social media platform Weibo after a large number of anti-Israel and antisemitic remarks were posted in response to the embassy's appeals for solidarity.

Update 10/13/23, 11:00 a.m. ET. This story has been updated with further information.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.