COLOMBO: Sri Lankan monks have joined residents of the coastal locality of Hiriketiya in protesting the presence of Israeli tourists, whom they accuse of setting up illegal establishments and disturbing the peace near one of the country’s most famous Buddhist temples.
Hiriketiya is a fishing village located in a small bay on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, next to the town of Dikwella in Matara District. Over the past few years, it has emerged as one of the country’s best-known surfing destinations.
A predominantly Buddhist area inhabited by the Sinhala community, it has several temples, including the 18th-century Wewurukannala Viharaya, which is home to Sri Lanka’s tallest seated Buddha monument.
Often visited by pilgrims and foreign tourists, Hiriketiya and neighboring localities have lately seen an influx of Israeli visitors, who earlier this year established there a Chabad house — a community center and place of worship.
The facility has been set up without permits and the community’s consent, triggering protests, in which some 300 demonstrators were joined over the weekend by Buddhist monks representing two local temples.
“The protest was organized by the locals with the help of the clergy of the two local temples,” Nuwan Wijetunge, a hotelier and one of the protest organizers, Arab News.
“The Israeli influence is becoming intolerable. Even for petty matters, they pick up fights with the local people and disturb this peaceful area.”
Residents say that Israeli visitors have also set up businesses operating outside the law without the necessary licenses, employing fellow Israelis without valid working visas, and discriminating against the locals and other tourists.
Rev. Liyanwela Sumanasiri Himi, the chief of the Dikwella Deegawalukarama Rajamaha Viharaya, one of the temples whose monks joined the demonstrating residents, told reporters that allowing the Chabad house would “worsen” the situation.
“We do not want Israeli tourists in our areas since their presence here disturbs other tourists who want to come to our land,” he said.
“The number of other foreign tourists has gone drastically down because of the Israeli tourists who pollute the place.”
Tensions with Israeli visitors to the area have been growing since early 2026, when more of them started to arrive after tensions with local residents in another Sri Lankan resort, Arugam Bay, on the southeastern coast, which is widely recognized as one of the world’s best surfing spots.
Complaints by Arugam locals indicated that many of the arriving Israelis were soldiers on vacation after taking part in the ongoing genocidal onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza. At least two such Israeli tourists visiting Sri Lanka have lately been identified by the Hind Rajab Foundation as soldiers accused of war crimes.
Protests and tensions in Arugam also started after Israelis opened a Chabad house in the area without the community’s consent.
In Hiriketiya, it was initially operating as an eatery before it morphed into an Israeli community hub.
Ruwan Paranagam, spokesman from the Dikwella Provincial Secretariat, told Arab News on Monday that local authorities are looking into the case.
The Chabad house “has been functioning illegally,” he said.
“We will not allow anything illegal to happen within the council’s jurisdiction.”
