Israeli festivalgoer stabbed in Hungary, two arrested over drug suspicions

An Israeli festivalgoer was stabbed in Hungary on Tuesday, after two Israelis were separately arrested for drug offenses at one of the largest annual trance music events in the world.

The stabbing victim, a man in his 30s, was taken to a hospital by paramedics after he was attacked on the grounds of the Ozora festival, located in the center of the country.

Further details about his identity and condition were not publicly available several days later.

Police said they had arrested two suspects, accused of aggravated assault, in connection with the incident.

Authorities did not state a motive for the incident, and reporting did not suggest there was evidence that the victim was targeted for his identity.

Similar violent incidents have occurred in the past at the annual festival, including just last year, when one Israeli stabbed another Israeli.

Last weekend, police at the festival stopped a car with a German license plate, driven by a 27-year-old Israeli man, and discovered a significant quantity of what were suspected to be drugs.

The Israeli and his passenger — a 22-year-old Colombian national — were taken into custody, according to a statement by the department.

On Monday, another Israeli was arrested for drugs, along with a Belgian and a Portuguese national.

Ozora, which brings tens of thousands of international visitors to the county of Fejer every year, is frequented by Israeli partygoers who flock to Hungary for various festivals every summer.

Hungary is one of Israel’s closest allies in the European Union. Though longtime pro-Israel premier Viktor Orban was defeated in April by a center-right opponent more friendly to the EU, the new government is expected to remain a solid friend of Israel.

The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.

There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.

As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.

— Stav Levaton, military reporter

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel