Michael Douglas has revealed that his teenage son Dylan has had his first anti-Semitism experience while their family was vacationing in Southern Europe last year. The Hollywood actor says his son was targeted by a man at a hotel they were staying at because he was wearing his Star of David necklace.

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In an Op-Ed piece for the Los Angeles Times, Douglas, who has two children, Dylan and Carys, with actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, said he confronted the man who went on an anti-Semitic attack on his son.

Douglas explained to his child at the time by saying, "Dylan, you just had your first taste of anti-Semitism."

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He continued, "I had an awful realization of what might have caused the man's outrage... After calming him down, I went to the pool and asked the attendants to point out the man who had yelled at him. We talked. It was not a pleasant discussion. Afterward, I sat down with my son and said: "Dylan, you just had your first taste of anti-Semitism."'

Douglas added, "Anti-Semitism, I've seen, is like a disease that goes dormant, flaring up with the next political trigger. Because if we confront anti-Semitism whenever we see it, if we combat it individually and as a society, and use whatever platform we have to denounce it, we can stop the spread of this madness."

Douglas will be traveling to Israel in June, where he will be honored with the 2015 Genesis Prize.

According to YNet News on Thursday, Douglas will be awarded the prize during a ceremony in Jerusalem by the Israeli prime minister and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky. The site says the award honors those who contribute to contemporary Jewish culture and aim to "serve as an inspiration to young Jews and others across the globe."

The last time Douglas and his family were in Israel was when they celebrated Dylan's Bar Mitzvah in June of 2014.

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