Greek Protesters Rally Against an Israeli Cruise Ship
Protests have been held on Greek islands and at mainland ports along the route of the Crown Iris and several of them have led to clashes with police.
Unions in Greece and other European Union countries have become increasingly outspoken in their condemnation of Israel over widespread destruction and severe food shortages in Gaza.
At the port of Piraeus, near Athens, demonstrators held flares and waved Palestinian flags behind a cordon formed with riot police buses, The Associated Press reported.
Protest organizers, citing online posts from travelers, said off-duty Israeli soldiers were among the passengers.
'They are unwanted here and have no business being here,' protest organizer Markos Bekris said. 'The blood of innocent people is on their hands, and we should not welcome them.'
Many European governments have become more critical of Israel in recent weeks, and several unions have gone even further by expressing support for punitive measures.
Last month, the European Trade Union Confederation called on the EU to suspend its trade-focused association agreement with Israel — a move that would hurt the country's exports to Europe that were worth 15.9 billion euros ($18.5 billion) last year.
Belgium's largest trade union is encouraging members employed at Brussels airport to refuse to work on recently reopened flights to Tel Aviv.
'Members and workers who refuse to participate in normalizing our relations with the State of Israel will be fully supported by our organization,' the CSC umbrella union said in a statement this week. 'We call on everyone to refuse to handle these flights.'
In a separate development, French officials have refused to comment on reports that the government has halted renewing work visas for some staff at Israeli airline El Al in France in an apparent spat over security checks.
Greece is a popular holiday destination for Israelis. But the ongoing war in Gaza has triggered hundreds of anti-Israel protests in Athens and other Greek cities, as well as a political confrontation.
Left-wing opposition parties are calling on the conservative government to halt commercial and broad military cooperation with Israel.
Addressing the growing criticism, Israeli government officials have insisted it will not change their military objectives in Gaza. These include a comprehensive defeat of Hamas.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
25 minutes ago
- Arab News
UN rights office says Israeli settlement plan breaks international law
The UN human rights office said on Friday an Israeli plan to build to build thousands of new homes between an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and near East Jerusalem was illegal under international law, and would put nearby Palestinians at risk of forced eviction, which it described as a war far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday vowed to press on a long-delayed settlement project, saying the move would 'bury' the idea of a Palestinian UN rights office spokesperson said the plan would break the West Bank into isolated enclaves and that it was 'a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.'About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move not recognized by most countries, but has not formally extended sovereignty over the West world powers say settlement expansion erodes the viability of a two-state solution by breaking up territory the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel, which captured all three territories in the 1967 Middle East cites historical and biblical ties to the area and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security and that the West Bank is 'disputed' not 'occupied.'
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
UK government must suspend Palestine Action prosecutions until ban review: Rights groups
LONDON: Protesters arrested under the UK's Terrorism Act for supporting the banned group Palestine Action should not be prosecuted while there is a legal challenge against the ban, rights groups have told the government. Organizations including Greenpeace and Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Lord Hermer, the attorney general for England and Wales, urging the delay in prosecutions, The Guardian reported on Friday. More than 500 people, half of whom are aged 60 or older, were arrested at a London demonstration last weekend under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, which prohibits public displays of support for proscribed groups. Proceeding with prosecutions amid a judicial review into the ban on Palestine Action would raise significant legal and moral questions, said the letter, which was also signed by Friends of the Earth, Global Witness and the Quakers. The review is expected to be heard in November. Lord Hermer must act 'in the public interest' and take decisive action over the question of prosecution, the letter said. Rather than the Crown Prosecution Service having decision-making powers over the prosecutions, the attorney general can decide the appropriate course of action on cases falling under the Terrorism Act, it added. Most of those arrested at the London rally were bailed, but at least 10 protesters have been charged. In their letter, the rights group said no one else should be charged, and those who have should not be prosecuted before the findings of the judicial reviews, which could overturn the ban on Palestine Action. Co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, Areeba Hamid, said: 'Hundreds of people are facing potential prison sentences for sitting quietly holding placards. It isn't difficult to see why this could be a disproportionate restriction on people's freedom of expression, and why so many legal experts have expressed their concern at the government's decision to extend their definition of terrorism in this way. 'We urge the attorney general to approach the matter with care and some caution, and not prejudge the outcome of a judicial review which could fundamentally change the legal position of these protesters.' The British judge who granted permission for the judicial review feared that those charged with criminal offenses under the Terrorism Act might individually challenge the Palestine Action ban's legality when tried. This could lead to a variation in findings and inconsistencies among different criminal courts, creating 'a recipe for chaos,' the judge said. The letter to Lord Hermer added: 'Prosecuting individuals for offences connected to that proscription before the court has determined its legality raises significant legal and moral questions. 'In particular, one of the grounds which the judge held had merit was that the proscription of Palestine Action was a disproportionate interference with human rights. 'We therefore respectfully request that you exercise your constitutional role in the public interest by delaying any decisions to prosecute individuals arrested under terrorism legislation in connection with Palestine Action until the conclusion of the judicial review process.'
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israeli far-right minister confronts prominent Palestinian detainee
Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir published a video on Friday in which he confronts the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody in his prison cell. Marwan Barghouti, a leading member of the Palestinian Fatah party, has spent more than 20 years behind bars after being sentenced for his role in anti-Israeli attacks in the early 2000s. In the clip published by Ben Gvir on X, the minister and two other individuals, including a prison guard, surround Barghouti in a corner of his cell. 'You will not defeat us. Whoever harms the people of Israel, whoever kills children, whoever kills women... we will erase them,' Ben Gvir says in Hebrew. Barghouti tries to respond but is interrupted by Ben Gvir, who says: 'No, you know this. And it's been the case throughout history.' The video does not specify where Barghouti is currently being held. Contacted by AFP, sources close to Ben Gvir said the meeting took place 'by chance' in Ganot prison in southern Israel during an inspection visit by the minister, but they would not say when the footage was filmed. 'This morning I read that various 'senior officials' in the Palestinian Authority didn't quite like what I said to arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti -- may his name be erased,' Ben Gvir said in the post accompanying the video on Friday morning. 'So I will repeat it again and again, without apology: whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders our children, whoever murders our women -- we will wipe them out. With God's help.' Barghouti, who is now in his sixties, was arrested in 2002 by Israel and sentenced to life in 2004 on murder charges. Israel considers him a 'terrorist' and convicted him over his role in the second intifada, or uprising, from 2000-2005. He often tops opinion polls of popular Palestinian leaders and is sometimes described by his supporters as the 'Palestinian Mandela.' In a statement released by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry denounced 'an unprecedented provocation' and described the confrontation as 'organized state terrorism.'
