Israeli singer brutally attacked in Athens after speaking Hebrew

The Israeli singer was struck in the face, sustaining significant swelling and fractures to his nose, although he also acknowledged that he fought back against the men during the confrontation.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

Israeli singer-songwriter Elior Zandani was brutally assaulted by three unknown individuals while vacationing in Athens after they overheard him speaking Hebrew—the latest in a string of incidents fueling alarm over rising antisemitism and growing hostility toward Jews and Israelis across Greece.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Zandani—a former contestant on the ninth season of “The Next Star”—recounted the ordeal, explaining that he had arrived in Athens over the weekend to perform at local tavernas and celebrate his 25th birthday.

Yet what was supposed to be a celebratory getaway quickly turned into a frightening experience when Zandani found himself caught in a violent confrontation while enjoying a night out near the city’s Olympic Stadium.

“I stepped outside to make a phone call, and during the conversation, I found myself near the taxis, where three people noticed I was speaking Hebrew. I’m not exactly good at hiding the fact that I’m Israeli,” Zandani wrote.

According to his testimony, the three individuals then began verbally abusing and harassing him, hurling antisemitic slurs and escalating the confrontation into an increasingly aggressive and threatening exchange.

At that point, the verbal aggression rapidly spiraled into a physical altercation, turning an already hostile encounter into a violent assault.

“They began verbally attacking me, and as the situation escalated, I wasn’t going to just stand there and let it happen. What followed quickly turned into a fight,” Zandani said.

The Israeli singer was struck in the face, sustaining significant swelling and fractures to his nose, although he also acknowledged that he fought back against the men during the confrontation.

“The moment I realized I was completely alone, I knew I had to get away, so I turned and ran,” Zandani said.

“I’m not ashamed to admit how frightened I was. Going through something like that in a foreign country is one of the most distressing experiences I’ve ever had.”

Like much of Europe and the broader Western world, Greece has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the past three years in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Across the country, Jews and Israelis have reported an increasingly threatening environment, with incidents ranging from targeted attacks and harassment to intimidation, vandalism, and public displays of anti-Israel hostility.

In one of the most recent incidents, Israeli tourist Anna Doshin was refused service at Vinoir Bistro in central Athens after a young employee asked about her nationality and, upon learning she was Israeli, sparked an unexpected confrontation.

After Doshin said she was from Israel, the employee allegedly told her, “There is no hookah for you,” removed the hookah she had ordered from her table, and refused to serve her.

Doshin said she remained calm, stood up, and quietly left.

“First of all, I was afraid because I was there alone and I am a woman,” she told the Israeli news outlet Ynet.

“Every day when I passed the restaurant, because I was staying right above it, I felt uncomfortable and scared. I felt humiliated and embarrassed, so I immediately went back home very shaken.”

In a separate incident earlier this year, a local left-wing anarchist group known as Rouvikonas staged what it called “anti-Zionist patrols” through the streets of Thessaloniki—the second-largest Greek city in the country’s north—claiming the demonstrations were intended to confront what it described as growing “Israeli and Zionist infiltration” across the city.

Individuals were seen marching through the city wearing black T-shirts featuring Palestinian flags.

According to the anti-Israel group, Thessaloniki had become part of a wider process of “colonization” driven by domestic and foreign capital, alleging that Israeli and other investment funds were increasingly buying up beaches, neighborhoods, and villages and displacing local residents in the process.

“While the people of Palestine and Lebanon are being massacred, Zionist tourists, [Israeli] soldiers and their families arrive by the thousands on cruise ships, turning their investment properties into sources of income or holiday homes far removed from the rapes and murders of civilians and children in Gaza,” the group wrote in a statement.

Rouvikonas also accused Israeli investments of serving as part of the Jewish state’s “soft power” strategy, alleging they are used to expand Israel’s economic and political influence abroad while generating profits that are “used to maintain Israel’s expensive, international propaganda machine.”

As long as the Greek government continues military and commercial cooperation with Israel, the group vowed it would continue efforts to ensure that “the genocidaires and Zionists are not welcome in our cities.”

Last summer saw an especially violent wave of incidents targeting Jews and Israelis across Greece.

In one incident in July 2025, the coach of Israel’s national soccer team, Ran Ben Shimon, was physically assaulted by a pro-Palestinian activist who also shouted “Free Palestine” at him in Athens last month before a match between Hapoel Be’er Sheva and their Greek rivals AEK Athens.

During the match, anti-Israel soccer fans throughout the stadium loudly chanted “F–k you Israel. Viva [Free] Palestine,” as seen in multiple videos from the scene that were later shared on social media. AEK Athens fans also raised numerous Palestinian flags in the stadium.

Days earlier, anti-Israel protesters clashed with Greek riot police on the island of Rhodes as they attempted to block an Israeli cruise ship—the MS Crown Iris, owned by Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime—from docking at the island’s main port.

The incident came one week after protesters prevented hundreds of Israeli passengers from disembarking the same cruise ship near the island of Syros.

Separately on Rhodes, a group of Israeli teenagers was physically assaulted by dozens of pro-Palestinian assailants—some reportedly armed with knives.

That same month, six individuals entered an Israeli restaurant in Athens and sprayed black paint on walls and tables in addition to dropping pamphlets.

They spray-painted graffiti with slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here” and posted a sign on one of the restaurant’s windows that read, “All IDF soldiers are war criminals—we don’t want you here,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

In June 2025, an Israeli tourist was attacked by a group of pro-Palestinian activists after they overheard him using Google Maps in Hebrew while navigating through Athens.

When the attackers realized the victim was speaking Hebrew, they began physically assaulting him while shouting antisemitic slurs.

Months earlier, two Israeli citizens were stabbed in a shopping center in Athens after the attackers reportedly heard them speaking Hebrew.

In 2024, a mob of pro-Hamas demonstrators attempted to break into a hotel where Israeli tourists were staying in Athens, leading Greek police to deploy gas grenades to disperse the crowd and restore order.

Despite the onslaught of incidents, the Greek government has deepened its strategic partnership with Israel this year, signing a landmark defense deal to improve its air defenses.

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