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An Israeli tourist was attacked in Athens, Greece, this week by a violent mob after he was heard speaking Hebrew in public — and in a disturbing turn of events, police initially responded by handcuffing the victim.
Meidad Hozeh, 35, was using Google Maps while walking to a gym when the app’s Hebrew voice command drew the attention of nearby passersby. One man stopped him and asked, “Are you from Israel?” — and Hozeh replied yes.
That was all it took.
“He began cursing at me and went into a frenzy,” Hozeh told the Israeli news outlet Maariv. “A group of people joined in. They started yelling, hitting me — I ran into the middle of the road to escape, hoping cars would shield me. But they chased me, even through traffic.”
Yesterday in Athens, a violent mob of Free Palestine supporters tried to lynch a man, simply because they heard him speaking Hebrew.
They followed him through the streets, hurled threats and slurs, and even laid hands on him.
And you still ask why Jews need Israel? pic.twitter.com/LfmNaySVQW
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 10, 2025
As the mob closed in, Hozeh tried to document the assault with his phone. He ultimately found refuge inside a restaurant, where he locked himself in the bathroom. The crowd, growing in number and aggression, surrounded the building.
“They tried to break down the door. One of them even said, ‘Let’s get an axe,'” Hozeh said. “I called the person I was staying with, and he called the police. It took them 20 minutes to arrive.”
But when police finally reached the scene, they did not arrest the attackers. They took Hozeh out in handcuffs — after one of the assailants filed a complaint against him. Outside, Palestinian flags waved and demonstrators continued shouting in the street.
“Nobody helped me,” Hozeh said.
Hozeh was eventually released after police reviewed video evidence showing that he had been the target — not the assailant.
The only “provocation”? A Jewish Israeli dared to speak his native language on a public street in a European capital.
This wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was a lynch mob.
