Greek Jews alarmed by series of antisemitic acts

By AFP

Greek police said Friday a synagogue in the central city of Larissa had been vandalised, the latest in a series of antisemitic acts condemned by the country's Jewish community.

"Free Palestine" and an offensive message targeting Zionism were graffitied on the outside wall of the synagogue on Thursday, police and a representative of the local Jewish community told AFP.

A Larissa police spokesperson said an investigation had been opened.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) expressed Thursday "deep concern" about what it described as a "rampant increase in incidents targeting Jewish sites in various cities across" the country.

The group in a statement said the Larissa Holocaust Memorial and another site dedicated to the historic Jewish cemetery at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki had been "desecrated".

An "antisemitic inscription" was also graffitied on the wall of the Jewish cemetery in the coastal port city of Volos.

"Such incidents are accompanied by extreme rhetoric that has led to acts of crude violence, including attacks on tourists, verbal assaults, acts of vandalism, and the ongoing targeting of individuals who are often labeled as 'murderers' solely on the basis of their national or religious identity," Greece's Jewish community group KIS said.

Numerous pro-Palestinian protests, mostly organised by the Greek left, have taken place in recent weeks in Greece to condemn the ongoing war in Gaza.

A Greek delegation last week participated in an international march departing from Cairo to Gaza.

Like others who took part in the march, they were detained in Cairo and forced to return to Greece.

Over 86 percent of the Greek Jewish community was murdered during the country's occupation by Nazi Germany, according to KIS, saying the community is now about 5,000-strong.

Many Israeli tourists visit Greece each year, particularly Athens and Thessaloniki, which before the Nazi occupation had a significant Jewish community.