Syrian bites ear of Israeli tourist in Greece, yells ‘I am Hamas, free Palestine!’

The Syrian approached them while filming with his phone and yelled, “Free Palestine,” “Damn Israel,” and declared, “I am Hamas.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A Syrian migrant harassed Israeli tourists in Athens, attempted to attack a woman and bit off part of a man’s ear.

Stav Ben Shushan was identified as the man who lost part of his ear and is currently hospitalized.

The Syrian migrant made a counterclaim to the police, alleging that the Israeli tourist made racist remarks to him.

Ben Shushan reported that the harassment began when he and his wife were conversing with other Israeli tourists at Bolivar Beach in Athens.

The Syrian approached them while filming with his phone and yelled, “Free Palestine,” “Damn Israel,” and declared, “I am Hamas.”

When the man threw sand at the Israelis, Ben Shushan said he pushed him, and security personnel removed the man from the site.

Ben Shushan said the man returned an hour later, tried to attack his wife, and he then attacked the man, who bit off part of his ear.

The Foreign Ministry stated that a group of Syrian migrants identified the tourists as Israelis and intentionally decided to harass them.

“One of the individuals later attacked the Israeli man while he was in the water, biting his ear and causing a serious injury,” a ministry spokesperson said. “The attacker is under arrest, and we are in contact with the victim and Greek authorities.”

The incident is the most recent in a series of attacks targeting Israelis in Greece.

Earlier this month, young Israelis were assaulted by Turkish tourists in Rhodes, and last week, anti-Israel demonstrators prevented an Israeli cruise ship from docking on the island of Syros.

The Crown Iris, operated by Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime, had a scheduled stop at the small port on Tuesday afternoon.

However, the ship did not dock, nor did the captain allow passengers to disembark, after a large group of protesters gathered at the harbor chanting anti-Israel slogans.

“There are about 200 protesters at the port entrance with Palestinian flags,” Daniella, a passenger on the ship identified only by her first name, told Hebrew-language outlet Ynet.

“They won’t let us off the ship… they knew we were coming and waited for us,” she added.

Videos showing Israeli passengers responding to the protest by singing and waving Israeli flags circulated on social media.