Koh Samui

Thailand has ordered the deportation of French zoo manager Kevin Diminu for refusing entry to Israelis and headbutting an Israeli national, who has also been ordered deported.

Thai authorities have revoked the visa of an Israeli national and ordered his deportation. The decision follows a conviction for threats against the French co-owner of an exotic zoo on Koh Samui.

A dispute between an Israeli citizen and the French director of a zoo on Koh Samui, who bans Israelis, has reached the courts. After the Israeli claimed he was attacked and the zoo director complained that his mother's house was set on fire, Thai authorities are considering deporting both.

Israelis reported that they were not allowed to enter a Thai zoo and were violently attacked; the owner claimed she decided not to admit Israelis due to their behavior in previous cases. In Thailand, it was reported that "Yaakov" was fined 5,000 baht after threatening the owner, and a person suspected of offering a reward for harming her has not yet been located.

Thai police have launched a wide-ranging operation against companies suspected of disguising foreign ownership using local nominees. Arrest warrants have been issued for 20 Israelis. An Israeli couple is suspected of operating a school for Israeli children without a license, as well as 19 real estate and tourism business promotion companies: "We acted legally, our name will be cleared."

A family vacation in Thailand turned into a harrowing survival ordeal: a 50-year-old French father and his two sons, aged five and seven, spent over 16 hours adrift at sea after their rented jet ski broke down off the coast of Koh Samui.

Thailand's tourist police are investigating a claim that an Israeli family was expelled from Samui Exotic Park after the owner learned of their nationality. The family reports that a staff member assaulted the father in front of his children, and the owner subsequently posted a video featuring an Israeli flag alongside a shooting target.