by Tom Slater, spiked
The horrific ordeal suffered by Itay Kashti reveals a sickness at the heart of our society.
‘My own personal October 7.’ That is how Itay Kashti describes his violent ordeal at the hands of three Jew-hating kidnappers in Wales last year. In a crowded field, Kashti’s kidnapping is easily among the most chilling acts of anti-Semitic violence we’ve seen perpetrated on these isles since Hamas’s pogrom in Israel 18 months ago.
This grotesque tale begins last August. Kashti, an Israeli Jewish music producer based in London, received an email from a man claiming to be a Polydor Records executive, inviting him to a songwriting retreat in Carmarthenshire. Kashti did a bit of due diligence, even speaking to the organisers, but didn’t notice anything unusual. An Airbnb was booked for him, along with a taxi to drive him there from his London home.
When he arrived at the rural cottage, he was jumped by three men wearing rubber masks and armed with an imitation pistol. The cabbie, who had helped Kashti in with his bags, was also attacked but managed to run away and call the police. Kashti, meanwhile, was handcuffed to a radiator, beaten and bloodied. Thankfully, his kidnappers’ amateurishness would save his life. They left him alone, and Kashti noticed he was chained to an unconnected pipe. He slipped free, found his phone and escaped into the shrubbery outside. He called his wife, and then the cops, who descended on the cottage and apprehended his tormentors.