An Israeli tourist said a man bit off part of his ear on an Athens beach on Saturday after yelling, “Free Palestine, fuck Israel, I am Hamas.”
Stav Ben-Shushan, who was hospitalized, told Hebrew media that he had shoved the man amid the altercation, which he said was sparked when the man approached him and other Israelis and threw sand at them.
Ben-Shushan later indicated, according to Hebrew media, that he was questioned by Greek police after being accused of making racist comments and claimed both he and his attacker were arrested.
The altercation was one of a few alleged anti-Israel incidents across Greece, and Europe more broadly, in recent days.
Speaking to Channel 12 from a hospital in Greece, Ben-Shushan said he and his wife were at Bolivar Beach on the Athenian Riviera, chatting with another Israeli couple, when a man started filming them and chanting the anti-Israel slogans.
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Ben-Shushan told Hebrew media that the group initially ignored the disturbance, but then the man threw sand at the Israeli next to them.
Ben-Shushan said he started shoving the attacker before security guards intervened to separate them, removing the assailant from the beach.
The Israeli related that an hour later, he was walking back to his wife from a bathroom at the beach where he saw the man return and approach her, and appear to attack her.
Illustration: Tourists walk on the beach in front of hotels on the Aegean island of Rhodes on August 29, 2020. (Louisa GOULIAMAKI / AFP)
When he rushed to intervene, the attacker bit part of his ear off, Ben-Shushan said.
Ben-Shushan said, without appearing to provide evidence, that the man was Syrian.
According to Ynet, anonymous officials in the Foreign Ministry said, “Apparently, a group of migrants identified the Israelis and harassed them.” The officials added that the attacker had been arrested.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said it demanded “zero tolerance” for the incident.
“Israel views this severely and expects a prompt and emphatic response from law enforcement in Greece,” the statement said.
The alleged attack at the Athens beach came days after a group of Israeli teenagers were accosted by a group of anti-Israel assailants while vacationing in the Greek island of Rhodes. The previous day, an Israeli-owned cruise ship was prevented from docking at the Greek island of Syros and was instead rerouted to Cyprus due to a large anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protest taking place at the port.
Elsewhere in Europe, Amit Peled, an Israeli cellist, posted to Instagram that he and two fellow musicians were kicked out of a Vienna restaurant for speaking Hebrew.
Amit Peled (Courtesy)
He wrote on Friday that the previous day, he was eating with violinist Hagai Shaham and pianist Julia Gurvitch at an Italian restaurant in the Austrian capital, when a waiter overheard them and asked what language they were speaking.
“I answered, ‘Hebrew, of course,’” Peled related. “He looked me directly in the eye and said, without hesitation: ‘In that case, leave. I’m not serving you food.’ Just like that.”
Peled continued, “The people around us were clearly startled, some offered sympathetic glances… and then, quietly, they went back to their dinners, their conversations, their wine — as though nothing had happened. Welcome to Europe, 2025.”
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