A 29-year-old Israeli man and his sister were violently attacked over the weekend in central Athens by three Palestinian men, in the latest incident of anti-Israeli violence to rock Greece.

The assault took place in Syntagma Square, directly in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Greek police confirmed that two Israelis — a 30-year-old woman and her 29-year-old brother — clashed with three Palestinians aged 25 to 27. Six plastic poles and several Palestinian flags were confiscated from the attackers, local media reported.

Authorities said all five individuals were arrested, but reports in Israel describe the Israelis being held under harsh conditions.

The male victim, a disabled veteran of the IDF, was initially placed in a cell with Muslim detainees. According to his father, who visited him in custody, the detainees threatened him and left him terrified. “They almost killed him,” the father told Israel’s Channel 13, which aired blurred images of his son’s bloodied head and scarred body.

After the father protested, his son was moved to solitary confinement “without much food,” he said. “His whole body is bruised. Poor boy! And there’s no one here to treat him.”

The father recounted how the assault began: “They saw them in the square, probably identified them as Jews, I don’t know how, and started hitting them. They scratched his back, dropped him on the floor and hit him with their flag poles.”

The Athens assault is the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting Israelis in Greece. In July, an Israeli tourist was attacked by Syrian migrants at a beach near Athens, one of whom bit off part of his ear. That victim was later arrested in his hospital bed after an assailant filed a counter-complaint accusing him of “racist remarks.”

Days later, dozens of pro-Palestinian assailants — some armed with knives — attacked Israeli teenagers on the island of Rhodes. Around the same time, Israeli cruise ship passengers were barred from disembarking at Syros island after anti-Israel protesters overwhelmed local police at Ermoupoli Port, forcing the ship to divert to Cyprus.

Greece’s Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis vowed in July that those attempting to prevent foreign nationals from entering the country would face “prosecution, arrest and criminal proceedings under the anti-racism law.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)