"I thought our lives were ending here": An Israeli and his partner were attacked in France

Tomer Eyal, a 32-year-old Israeli from Tel Aviv who has been living in France for the last two months, and his partner Alain were attacked last Friday on homophobic grounds at the Sherwood adventure park, located about 40 minutes north of Paris. The two were holding hands during their outing when they noticed a group of teenagers calling out homophobic slurs at them.

"We tried to ignore them," Tomer said. "At first, a few girls from the group approached us specifically to calm the situation. They told us not to listen to the boys and that we were cute together. We smiled. But shortly after, the rest of the group members arrived and asked in French: 'Are you the gays?'. Within a short time, a number of the youths surrounded the two and started attacking them."

"I have never been in a fight in my life. Three people were on Alain, others on me. I defended myself against four of them, and tried to reach him. I just wanted to reach him. He tried again and again to stop the attack. I clasped my hands and asked them to stop. They didn't stop." — Tomer wrote in a post he published following the incident on Instagram.

The violence, according to him, also included the use of objects. "Some of them had sticks, and one of them swung at us the metal equipment that was attached to his climbing harness." The two tried to call the security personnel at the site. "We shouted to security, but for a long time no one came," he said. "I remember looking at Alain and thinking: there is a chance our lives are ending here."

Eventually, people arrived at the scene and assisted the two. They were taken for treatment by the nurses at the park, who treated their injuries. They chose not to be evacuated to a hospital and mainly wanted to return to their home.

The French police also arrived at the scene. "They asked questions in French, so Alain, my partner, communicated with them because I don't really understand French," Tomer said. The two explained to the police officers that it was an incident on homophobic grounds, however, none of them were arrested at the scene.

Later, Tomer tells mako, Alain's friend, a criminal lawyer, contacted the police station in the area where the park is located. According to her, she was told at the station that no file was opened following the incident and that homophobia is not at the top of their priority list, against the background of other serious events in the area.

Yesterday, Tomer and Alain arrived at the police station, where they stayed for about two hours and filed an official complaint. The police officers at the station were surprised that the group members were not arrested at the scene. Now the two are waiting to understand what the next steps in the procedure are.

Tomer says that despite the incident, he does not intend to let it make him afraid to show his love in public: "Homophobia has found its way to me again, and the child in me still thinks it needs to be normalized. But it is not normal. No one should have to calculate if it is safe to hold the hand of the person they love. Let's educate the world to do better. If you see someone being attacked for any reason, do not stand on the sidelines. Call for help or do something."