Athens, Greece — On the evening of Saturday, July 26, pro-Palestinian protesters crafted and placed puppet dolls dedicated to the children killed in Gaza outside the Greek Parliament. The demonstration was organized by Initiative Against Genocide, a group staging sit-in protests and other activities in solidarity with Palestine and against the war in Gaza outside the Greek Parliament and in Syntagma Square, every day since June 21.
Among the Initiative’s actions, which are mainly communicated through social media, are sit-in protests, musical events and speeches by activists like Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Thiago Ávila. On Thursday, July 24, protesters and solidarity activists had gathered again outside the Greek Parliament, banging empty cooking pots and pans to protest against the ongoing famine in Gaza.
Ahmed, a member of the Initiative, told Unicorn Riot that the idea of the daily sit-in protests started when, despite all the pro-Palestine demonstrations that were happening in Greece, people just kept on with their mundane daily existence. “I cannot continue my normal life,” he said.
He and other activists and protesters began gathering daily to stage sit-in protests and other forms of activism outside the Greek Parliament and in Syntagma Square to pass this exact message.
Ahmed was born and raised in Gaza. He came to Europe in August 2023, about a month and a half before the war started in October of that year. Members of his family, including his brother and mother, are still in the Palestinian enclave.
“There is no normal life while this situation prevails in Gaza,” he said to Unicorn Riot, calling on the Greek people to support the Initiative and be present on the streets to protest Greece’s support for Israel.
Israeli Cruise Ship Turned Away from Greek Island by Pro-Palestine Protesters
A few days earlier, on July 22, on the Greek island of Syros, located in the Aegean sea, pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the arrival of a cruise ship carrying about 1,600 Israeli tourists.
More than 300 protesters held Palestinian flags and a large banner reading “STOP THE GENOCIDE” while chanting pro-Palestinian slogans. The ship, Crown Iris, did not disembark its passengers and changed course, sailing instead for the island of Cyprus. The Crown Iris is operated by the Israeli company Mano Maritime, based in Haifa, Israel. The company organizes frequent cruises to Greece and Cyprus, among other Mediterranean countries.
Yesterday in #Syros we forced the Israeli cruise ship to leave without disembarking the careless citizens of the genocidal state.#Palestine is the homeland of every human being.#freePalestine#stoptheGenocide
— Alexandros Bistis (@albist) July 23, 2025
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free✊🏻🇵🇸#GazaGenocidepic.twitter.com/7qfJGZxbzR
The protesters chanted slogans such as “Not in Syros, not anywhere, with Palestine until freedom.” In response to the port demonstration, Israeli tourists waved Israeli flags from inside the ship.
Hundreds of Israelis aboard a Mano Maritime cruise ship were stranded at the port of Syros, Greece, after pro-Palestinian protesters blocked them from disembarking pic.twitter.com/npWwMDLPbW
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 22, 2025
The incident, which ended without violence or arrests, also sparked reactions at the diplomatic level. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar discussed what happened by telephone with his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis. For his part, the Israeli Ambassador to Greece Noam Katz posted on X, noting “I want to thank those who spoke out against the attempt to harm the strong relations between our peoples, and to intimidate Israeli tourists coming to the island of Syros..”
I want to thank those who spoke out against the attempt to harm the strong relations between our peoples, and to intimidate Israeli tourists coming to the island of Syros.
— 🇮🇱 Noam Katz (@NoamKatz_) July 25, 2025
Israeli visitors consistently choose Greece as a top holiday destination – for its beauty, culture and warm…
The company Mano Maritime said in a statement that “the ship arrived at Syros, encountered a demonstration by pro-Palestinian supporters, and passengers were stuck on board without permission to disembark.”
‘Tourism Cannot Offer Moral Immunity’
Syros was not the only Greek island visited by the Crown Iris this July. On July 28, the cruise ship docked at the port of Rhodes, also in the Aegean sea. There, too, members of the local community and anti-war activists had planned a rally against the ship’s arrival. The Rhodes Municipal Employees Association had called on residents to gather.
In a relevant announcement, the Association stated that it is calling on all those who “refuse to accept the idea of the massacre of civilians, their extermination through imposed starvation, and systematic genocide, but at the same time seek a just and sustainable solution to the Palestinian question.”
Here, things took a more violent turn, as clashes broke out between pro-Palestine protesters and the police, who proceeded to make 8 arrests, according to Greek media. The cruise ship passengers, who were approximately 660, mainly Israelis, disembarked in Rhodes without incident, Greek media said.
That’s not all. The next stop of the Israeli cruise ship was Agios Nikolaos, Crete, on Tuesday, July 29. But there too, the local community was ready to react. “Our shores are not silent in the face of genocide,” said the Initiative for Solidarity with the Palestinian People in a statement, calling for a protest at the port of Agios Nikolaos.
“We do not accept the continuation of this normality, with some people going on vacation as if nothing is happening, while children, families, and entire communities are being systematically exterminated,” the statement said, adding: “Tourism cannot offer moral immunity.”
When the ship did arrive in the port of Agio Nikolaos, it was met by a few hundred protesters, holding Palestinian flags and banners and chanting slogans. The Israeli tourists disembarked and proceeded to various locations on the island by bus, passing in front of the gathered crowd. Tension with the police, which used tear gas and made detentions were also reported here.
The Israeli National Security Council has designated Greece as a “potential threat” country – level 2 travel warning, mentioning that “We advise that those staying in this country exercise increased precaution.”
For 2024, it is estimated the direct contribution of tourism to the Greek economy came to 30.2 billion euros — or about $40 billion — amounting to 13% of the country’s GDP. According to Greek media reports and official data, in 2024, 621,000 Israeli tourists visited Greece, spending 3.9 million nights in the country. That was 2% of the total arrivals from abroad for that year, while in terms of travel receipts, Israeli tourists brought 419 million euros, estimated to be 2% of the country’s total travel receipts for that year. According to the same sources, the main destinations for Israeli tourists in Greece were Kos, Rhodes, Crete, Athens and Thessaloniki.
For more from Greece, see our Archives and for more coverage of pro-Palestine protests since October 2023, click here or the image below.
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Published July 29, 2025