“Come to Greece and ignore the extreme cries of hatred and fanaticism,” the general secretary of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece – Victor Eliezer – told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
The Post contacted Eliezer following a spate of incidents involving Jews or Israelis in Greece over the last few weeks, including a pro-Palestinian protest that blocked Israelis attempting to disembark from a ship in Syros, an alleged attack against Israeli teens in Rhodes, and an attack on King David Burger, a kosher eatery in Athens.
Notwithstanding these, Eliezer told the Post that Jews are welcome in Greece. He said that “even religious Jews can move freely on the streets of Athens, and to date we have not received a complaint of an attack against any religious Jew.” The exception to this was an attempted attack on the Chabad kosher restaurant in Athens a few months ago, when two Pakistanis were arrested.
He did note, however, that there are groups that come “mainly from the extreme Left,” and “demonstrate against Israel and Zionists, accuse the Israelis of genocide in Gaza, write anti-Israeli slogans, put up posters against the presence of Israelis in Greece and recently attacked two businesses of Israeli citizens and did not allow the disembarkation of Israelis on the island of Syros.”
Advice for Israelis visiting Greece
But, according to Eliezer, these are only a small minority.
“The Greeks are a hospitable people, and I think that in no way do these extreme acts represent my fellow citizens,” he told the Post. “However, I would tell our Israeli visitors not to respond to provocations that aim to create noise and impressions; to come to Greece and ignore the extreme cries of hatred and fanaticism.”
In terms of the permanent Jewish community of Greece, Eliezer said they are “not afraid” but are nevertheless “concerned by observing the phenomena of extreme rhetoric against Zionism and the State of Israel that go beyond the limits of criticizing the policy of a government.”
Eliezer explained that antisemitism in Greece used to be based on prejudice and came from the “far Right and the neo-Nazi party that flourished in Greece during the economic crisis from 2012 to 2019.”
“However, relations with Israel have developed rapidly under all governments, from the socialists of George Papandreou to the leftists of Alexis Tsipras and the conservatives of Antonis Samaras and the current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis [resulting in] a strategic alliance between the two countries.”
“After October 7, 2023, the extreme rhetoric of the Populist extreme Left has caused this 'Judeophobia' [taking the term from the French philosopher Pierre-André Taghieff.] That is, they question Israel’s right to exist and identify with the views of the Iranian ayatollahs. They adopt the slogan “From the river to the sea.” This is the new form of antisemitism in Greece. The demonization of the State of Israel and the delegitimization of its right to exist.”
He reiterated, however, that these phenomena and beliefs do not represent the majority of Greek society, adding that the government spokesman and other ministers of the Greek government, as well as leading figures of the opposition Socialist party, were quick to condemn any threat against Greek Jews or Israeli citizens.
Additionally, Eliezer explained that the prosecutor’s office investigates all incidents and if a violation of the law is found, criminal prosecution is initiated.
In terms of communal security, Eliezer said that there was excellent cooperation with the Citizen Protection Ministry and the Greek Police, and that “fortunately to date we have not had any serious attacks against the Jewish Community and holy sites such as synagogues, cemeteries, museums and monuments.”
There had been some graffiti on the walls of the Larissa synagogue and the Volos cemetery, but no serious damage was caused, he said. “In both cases, the local authorities reacted and condemned these acts.”