WATCH: ‘EL, EL YISRAEL!’ — Israeli Tourists Stand Their Ground Against Anti-Israel Mob in Greece

Israeli tourists in Greece who were harassed by a group of people bearing Palestinian flags gave as good as they got, standing up and chanting “El, El Yisrael,” while the anti-Israel group tried to drown them out with their own chant. The crowds devolved into screaming unintelligibly at each other as police tried to restrain them.

Antisemitic incidents in Greece have been particularly violent. Sunday’s protests during an organized “Day of Rage” across the country saw Jews and Israelis shoved and abused. Young tourists cowered in their hotel rooms as Muslims armed with rifles and axes invaded the hotel, hunting them down. Groups of men wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with the Palestinian flag roamed a Jewish neighborhood in Thessaloniki, harassing and intimidating Jews. In another incident, tourists were harassed in Cyprus after being heard speaking Hebrew, with one of the aggressors knocked unconscious by one of the Israelis.

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The Israeli Foreign Ministry had issued a warning to Israelis and Jews to lie low ahead of the “Day of Rage” protests, which were scheduled to take place across the country during peak travel season, when Greece is a top tourist destination for Israelis on summer vacation.

Israelis have been subject to harassment all over the world, and Israeli tourists have become particularly vulnerable due to their language and even their accent. Last week, a mother and daughter traveling in Thailand were beaten so severely by a man who told them he didn’t like what Israel was doing and didn’t believe in violence that they required surgery for their injuries.

An Israeli tourist had ordered a meal at a Bangkok restaurant when she noticed a sign that said “No Israel [sic] tourist.” Canceling her order turned into a tense and frightening confrontation. A group of Israelis at a ski resort in Bansko, Bulgaria, was subjected to a violent antisemitic assault when a bystander heard one of them singing to himself a song in Hebrew with the words “Tel Aviv,” resulting in a violent confrontation that left one of the Israelis with a fractured skull and sinuses.

In another incident, a man filmed himself calling a group of Israelis vacationing in Montenegro “baby killers” and accusing them of genocide. Israeli tourists were attacked in Thailand after being overheard speaking Hebrew by French tourists in February. In June of last year, an Israeli tourist was violently attacked by a mob after he was heard speaking his native language. A family of Israeli tourists who were heard speaking Hebrew in Thessaloniki in July 2025 were attacked, with assailants following them to their car after they were told by staff to leave a restaurant.

The situation has worsened to the point that the Israeli National Security Council has been warning Israeli tourists not to speak Hebrew when traveling abroad. It has also advised removing all external signs of Jewishness, such as Stars of David, before going out in public, to keep mum about their military service, and to stay away from unsecured, unmonitored sites.