A group of six Israeli teens were assaulted in Rhodes, Greece, early Wednesday morning.
By Rachel Avraham
A group of six Israeli teens were assaulted in Rhodes, Greece, early Wednesday morning, N12 reported. According to the Jerusalem Post, the group of six young Israelis said that a group of anti-Israel rioters were waiting for them outside the club. They violently assaulted them, hit them, kicked them, and recorded one of the teens during the attack, the Jerusalem Post added. According to the report, several of the teens received light injuries.
Shachar Gutman, one of the teens involved, described a chaotic scene to Ynet that began after he and ten friends left a club around 3 a.m. local time. “We were at the ‘Hakuna Matata’ club celebrating, and then we heard that pro-Palestinians were clashing with Israelis outside,” he told Ynetnews. “We decided to avoid trouble and head back to our apartment. As we left, someone approached us and asked if we were Israeli.”
Gutman said to Ynet the man initially claimed to support Israel and peace, but then called over a large group of people. “Suddenly 30 to 40 of them started running at us,” he told Ynet. “At first we thought it wasn’t serious, but then we heard motorcycles speeding toward us. That’s when we knew we had to hide.”
The group scattered. Friedman told Ynet the assailants were armed with knives, and added: “I jumped up over a wall that I saw and hid there, and another friend saw steps and hid there. Another one hid behind a bush and another one behind a van. They came and kicked the one who was behind the van, and he begged for his life, that they wouldn’t do anything to him. They photographed him and let him go.”
“I’ve never been so afraid in my life. We just wanted to go to a club to have fun, and suddenly people with knives were chasing us. We were afraid it would end in a really bad way,” he told Ynet.
Correspondence between Friedman and his parents in Israel, published by the news site, showed texts reading: “Urgent; answer; urgent; they’re coming for us.” According to the Times of Israel, the teen hid, and spoke briefly with his parents, who phoned the Foreign Ministry. According to Channel 12, one of the teens caught in the assault was let go by the assailants after speaking some Dutch and convincing them he wasn’t Israeli.
The Times of Israel reported that the 3 a.m. incident in Rhodes came less than a day after an Israeli-owned cruise ship was prevented from docking at the Greek island of Syros on Tuesday and was instead rerouted to Cyprus due to a large anti-Israel protest taking place at the port. According to the report, Greece is a popular tourist destination for Israelis, and an estimated 621,000 visited the Hellenic Republic in 2024.
According to the Times of Israel, the country has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents since the October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel that started the war in Gaza. According to the report, Athens in particular has seen several attacks on Israeli tourists. The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli National Security Council’s current guidelines for travel to Greece put the country’s threat level at two of a possible four, meaning Israelis and Jews are advised to take “increased precautionary measures” there.
