Israeli MMA fighter survives "attempted murder" in Ukraine, blames UFC fighters, Kanye West and Muslims
Haim Gozali, who inscribed the names of MMA fighters and critics (including myself) on Gaza-bound artillery shells, claims to have survived an assassination attempt in Ukraine.
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Last month, Israeli media reported that Haim Gozali—the controversial Israeli MMA fighter who made headlines for inscribing the names of Muslim MMA fighters on artillery shells bound for Gaza—survived an assassination attempt while in Ukraine for an local MMA event.
Gozali, one of Israel’s most renowned fighters and a known associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed that an assailant armed with a knife and a gun showed up at a hotel in Kolomyya, Ukraine, where he, his son, and his coach were staying, intending to kill them. However, following a lengthy scuffle, they managed to escape with minor injuries.
“I open the door and notice all the shouting and the noise of things breaking from the entrance to [coach] Ben El's room and see him fighting with someone,” Gozali told Israel Hayoum. “Of course I immediately jumped to help him and pushed the attacker away from him, the attacker fell back towards the stairs and then in a second it turned into a horror movie.
“He goes down three steps back and pulls out a gun from a bag he had in his hand,” he continued. “Before I can understand what is happening, I already find myself running with [my son] Elad when the man shoots at us from a range of almost zero. Ben El ran in one direction and I and Elad ran in another direction and the only thing we could do was go out the window to the attached roof and hide there by the window so that if he came looking for us we would at least have the element of surprise and be able to throw him off the roof.”
Gozali went on to compete the following day before being escorted across the Romanian border and back to Israel. Upon his return, he shared a lengthy post on Telegram in which he attributed the attack to his decision to publish the “names of Muslim anti-Semitic UFC fighters” in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, before blaming those same MMA fighters, as well as rapper Kanye West, and the Muslim community for the attack.
Here is Gozali’s statement:
Attempted murder in Ukraine:
Since I published the names of Muslim-anti-Semitic UFC fighters, I have received tens of thousands of messages threatening murder.
They distributed over 150 inflammatory videos about me, but this time someone crossed the line, and they really tried to murder me.
I thought that this could not happen in Ukraine because the evil world considers Israel and Ukraine as their enemies.
I was wrong!
I tried to keep the location of the battle a secret, they didn't need me to know what it was.
I even asked for help from officials in the State of Israel in providing security assistance to the delegation, of course they said nothing happened in the actual treatment.
There are a lot of famous people that I can think of that sent me an assassin.
1. Khamzat Chimayev (sent me an open murder threat on Instagram).
2. Jake Shields (the anti-Semite who regularly incites against Israel and Jews and especially against me).
3. Khabib Nurmagomedov and the 40 Dagestans (I received death threats from everyone related to him, trainers and fighters signed by him, even from the night elf Hasbula Magomedov).
4. Jeff Monson (American anti-Semite living in Russia, sent me dozens of messages and threats when he catches me he will kill me).
5. Kanye West, everyone knows the story, and the man has a fortune.
6. The entire Muslim world that is sympathetic to fighting and is affected by this list.
Only this time someone took the incitement one step too far, and decided to commit the worst of all attempted murders.
Gozali later shared this video following the alleged incident and claimed that local police were trying to hush up the affair.
I'm trying to get the security camera footage to show what happened there.
I think the local police are trying to cover up the issue.
I have yet to come across a similar case where victims of attempted murder are not interrogated, they are not asked to testify, their cell phones are taken and they are rushed to the state border.
The reported attack on Gozali reflects the potential threats facing Israeli athletes at international competitions amid their government’s nine-month war on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. However, it is also important to note that Gozali’s claim that the attack took place because of his decision to share the names of antisemitic fighters is a gross misrepresentation of his actions.
Over the past few months, Gozali has been inscribing the names of people, mainly UFC fighters, who have been openly critical about Israel’s war on Gaza, on artillery shells bound for Gaza. His first inscription bore the names of four Muslim UFC fighters: retired former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, Chechen star Khamzat Chimaev, and Palestinian fighter Belal Muhammad.
Since then, Gozali has expanded his list to include anyone he deems an enemy of Israel, including Palestinian-American supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid, rapper Kanye West, and former MMA fighter-turned-conspiracy nutcase Jake Shields. Of all the aforementioned names, only West and Shields are openly antisemitic.
Gozali even went so far as to inscribe my name, as well as that of my former employer Bloody Elbow, on a Gaza-bound shell after I published a piece on Gozali’s disturbing antics.
You can read more about that here:
Since returning to Israel, Gozali has continued to call for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. Most recently, he even called for the destruction of all of Lebanon after Hezbollah launched a drone into northern Israel.
“When did we become a country of drunkards instead of destroying all of Lebanon. We sit like targets.”
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