Thailand orders first deportation under new rules, eight days after they took effect

BANGKOK — Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, acting as interior minister, has signed an order deporting an Israeli resident of Koh Samui in what Thai media have described as the first use of deportation procedures introduced in 2026.

Yaacov "Jacob" Ohayon, a property developer who also runs a sandwich business and has lived on the island for about five years, was convicted by the Koh Samui Provincial Court under Section 392 of the Criminal Code. The provision covers threatening conduct that causes another person fear or distress. He was found to have threatened Jindarat Sattayapun, the Thai owner of Samui Exotic Park.

The court initially sentenced him to one month's imprisonment and fined him 10,000 baht. After he admitted the offence, the penalties were reduced to 15 days in prison and a 5,000-baht fine, with the custodial sentence suspended for two years. He has seven days from formal notification to appeal the deportation order to the prime minister and seek a suspension.

The Interior Ministry determined that his conduct threatened public order, morality and public welfare. His visa had already been revoked the previous week.

The proportionality question

The gap between the penalty and the consequence is the aspect that warrants scrutiny.

A 5,000-baht fine — roughly the cost of a domestic flight — and a suspended two-week sentence sit at the minor end of Thailand's criminal code. The subsequent deportation ends a five-year residency and a business.

Thailand's deportation powers derive from a 1956 statute, but the procedures used in this case are new, and the order came eight days after they took effect. A prime minister personally signing the first order, in a case arising from a private dispute on a resort island, signals the importance the government wants attached to the new regime.

How it started

The dispute began at Samui Exotic Park in Mae Nam, which is operated by Jindarat and her French husband, Kevin Dimino.

On Aug. 12, an Israeli couple and their two children said they were refused entry because of their nationality. A video recorded by the mother and widely shared online shows her asking staff whether the refusal was because the family was Israeli. A man representing the park then tells them to leave, responds to a request for his name with profanity, and appears to headbutt her husband.

Reports at the time said signs at the park offered free entry to Palestinians while denying entry to Israelis. Dimino displayed a Palestinian flag. An Israeli resident of the island approached him and asked him to remove it. He refused, and a video circulated that appeared to show Dimino confronting and headbutting the man.

Both accounts of the physical confrontations are based on video footage and statements from those involved. Neither has resulted in a reported conviction.

What followed

The dispute escalated well beyond the park.

Dimino said he and his family had received threats and claimed that his mother's home in France had been set on fire. Thai police opened an investigation into an allegation that 500,000 baht had been offered for information that could lead to him being harmed. Jindarat lodged a police report, while authorities deployed security around the area.

Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said in August that the ministry would act to end the dispute, following discussions with the governor of Surat Thani, the province that administers Koh Samui.

Reports in August indicated that officials were considering immigration measures against both parties. As of this week, no order against Dimino has been reported, and no equivalent action against him has been announced.

That asymmetry is a matter of public record rather than an allegation, and it is the question the Thai government has not addressed publicly.

The tourism frame

Officials have consistently framed the matter as one of protecting the island's visitor economy, rather than as a dispute linked to the Middle East.

Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul, announcing the visa revocation, said Thailand welcomed tourists of all nationalities but that anyone who violated the law or provoked confrontations could lose their visa and face deportation. He said each case would be assessed individually and that authorities would not judge all visitors from one country based on the conduct of a single person.

He also said the Tourism Authority of Thailand had approached embassies and airlines, asking them to help brief arriving visitors on Thai law, customs and culture before they travelled.

The move is part of a wider tightening of immigration controls. From Sept. 15, Thailand's visa-free stay for most nationalities will be reduced from 60 days to 30, while the eligible list will be cut from 93 countries and territories to 60. Visa-exempt land-border entries will also be capped at two per calendar year for most nationalities. Enforcement action against illegal foreign employment has increased as well.

What to watch

Whether Ohayon appeals, and how the prime minister's office handles it. The appeal goes to the same office that signed the order. How it is resolved will indicate whether the seven-day avenue is a genuine review or merely a formality — a matter that will be relevant to every foreign resident covered by the rules.

Whether any action is taken against the other party. Officials were reported in August to be weighing measures against both men. One order has been signed. Whether a second follows, or whether the matter is closed, will be the clearest available test of how evenly the new powers are applied.

How often the new procedures are used from here. This was the first order, issued eight days after the rules took effect. The rate over the next quarter will show whether the regime is reserved for exceptional cases or becomes a routine instrument against foreign residents who acquire a criminal record, however minor.

Originally published on IBTimes Thailand