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An Israeli tourist was seriously injured at a popular beach near Athens in a suspected antisemitic assault on Saturday, intensifying concerns for the safety of Israelis and Jews in Greece as antisemitic hostility continues to grow across the country.
Stav Ben Shushan was visiting the Bolivar Beach Bar with his wife and friends when a man approached the group, shouting, “Free Palestine,” “Damn Israel,” and “I am Hamas,” while filming them.
After beach security removed the man, he returned and ambushed Ben Shushan while he was swimming — biting off part of his ear. Ben Shushan was hospitalized for treatment of his wounds.
Greek police arrested the suspected attacker, reportedly a Syrian migrant. In a disturbing twist, police also briefly detained Ben Shushan after the assailant filed a counter-complaint accusing him of racism. Israeli officials confirmed they were in contact with Greek authorities and were assisting the victim.
According to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the attack was preceded by verbal harassment from a group that had identified the tourists as Israeli, underscoring the targeted nature of the assault.
This violent incident is part of a broader pattern of rising anti-Israel aggression in Greece. Just days earlier, Israeli teenagers were assaulted by Turkish tourists on the island of Rhodes. The same week, a pro-Palestinian mob prevented the Israeli-owned MS Crown Iris from docking on the island of Syros, forcing the cruise ship and its 1,600 passengers to reroute to Cyprus.
The attack in Athens also reflects a wider European trend of antisemitic violence masquerading as political protest. In Portugal, Israeli PhD student Bar Harel was subjected to a relentless campaign of hate after publishing a report on campus antisemitism at the University of Coimbra. In an interview with the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), he described being doxxed, assaulted, and threatened with death — while the university, police, and government failed to act. Antisemitic stickers — including one reading “Zionists should carry a certificate to prove they’re human” — remain plastered across university buildings.
Similar hate-filled slogans have appeared throughout Greece. In Athens, visitors have reported graffiti and stickers equating Zionism with Nazism and branding Israeli soldiers as “war criminals,” “rapists” and “murderers.” Combined with mounting street-level aggression, these messages have created a climate of fear for Israeli and Jewish visitors.
As antisemitic rhetoric and violence escalate across Europe, attacks like the one in Athens offer a stark reminder: hatred of Jews and Israelis is not just growing — it is becoming brazen, normalized, and increasingly dangerous.
