Nehorai Yitzhak, an 18-year-old Chabad Hassid who arrived in the city of Nuweiba in the Sinai Peninsula to provide kosher food for Israeli travelers this past Shabbat, got into a confrontation with the owner of a hospitality complex that ended in his arrest.
He was released back to Israel after midnight on Sunday evening.
An eyewitness told Israel National News earlier that at the conclusion of Shabbat, all the Israelis asked to take a group photo and the arrested young man asked to hold a flag of the Chabad movement, but the owner of the place refused to permit him to do so.
The eyewitness said that Nehorai said he was sorry and put away the bag containing the flag, but one of the staff members arrived in a rage, got angry with him and pushed him, and a confrontation erupted.
The staff at the complex decided to block the exit with their bodies and even turned off the Wi-Fi in order to prevent the Israelis from calling for help, he added.
"Fortunately, there were a few Israelis who purchased an Egyptian SIM card, giving them the opportunity to report the incident to their families in Israel in an attempt to reach the Egyptian consulate and embassy. Only when the Israelis managed to reach a higher diplomatic level with the help of their families in Israel, did the Egyptians immediately send police vehicles to the complex," he said.
Nehorai, to his surprise, was taken to a police station, alongside security forces, with the claim being that the goal is to reconcile between the sides and release the Israeli, but he has since been detained for over 20 hours without being given food or drink.
The Egyptian security forces, he says, forced him to sign documents if he wanted to be released, and he signed the documents, which were in Arabic, without understanding them, and has been under arrest until now.
Attorney Shiran Almado, who is representing the family, said, "The story is portrayed as a provocation by a Jewish guy who put on a flag in an Arab country and created a riot. The real story is that the guy volunteered to cook kosher food for travelers at his favorite place - Sinai - and has been doing it for the past two months."
"This past weekend was supposed to be the last one and apparently there was also pressure from the owners of the nearby guest houses, who did not like the traffic of travelers at their neighbor's house," she added.
Nehorai’s mother told Channel 13 News on Sunday, "Since the arrest, it is impossible to talk to him, his friends are there, they don't know what they are signing. There is no interpreter, we have no idea what they are trying to pin on him."
"It's not something that has to do with religion, he's been there for over two months," said the mother. "They heard he said he was leaving, they got stressed that travelers would stop coming. He prepared kosher food for many travelers. This is an 18-year-old boy, he didn't come on behalf of anyone. He saw that there was a need to do Jewish activities there and prepare kosher food and started doing it. At the end of last week, something went awry there. The Foreign Ministry tells us to listen to the locals, not to cause any trouble, to do whatever the locals tell us."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated, "Last night a report was received about an Israeli citizen who was arrested after getting into a confrontation with a local resident in Sinai. The case is being handled by the Israeli consul in Egypt and the Department for Israelis Abroad, which is in contact with his family members."