The Acropolis still draws millions, but Athens today is a showcase of Israeli flags defaced with swastikas, “Smash Zionism” painted across storefronts, and banners celebrating Iran-backed terrorist organizations displayed openly at public demonstrations. The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has formally demanded that Athens Mayor Haris Doukas act. His record suggests he won’t.
Greece’s antisemitism problem is not new. A 2020 ADL survey found that 69% of Greeks harbored antisemitic attitudes, making Greece the most antisemitic country in Western Europe. The number has since dropped, but not by much. The ADL’s most recent Global 100 survey placed Greece 73rd out of 103 countries, with a score of 50% — still more than triple Western Europe’s average of 17%.
Since October 7, 2023, the hatred has moved off the survey pages and into the streets. Athens has seen vandalism of Israeli-owned businesses, assaults on Hebrew-speaking tourists, harassment of Israelis at local beaches, and repeated attempts by protesters to block Israeli cruise ships from docking. In July 2025, graffiti reading “No Zionist is safe here” was spray-painted inside King David Burger, a kosher restaurant in central Athens. That same month, black-uniformed groups began patrolling tourist areas, including Monastiraki, Thisio, and Plaka, targeting Israelis and Jews.
In September 2025, the harassment turned into an outright assault. A group of Palestinian men attacked two Israeli tourists near the Monument to the Unknown Soldier at Syntagma Square. Police confiscated six plastic poles, two of which had flags, and detained those involved.
Mayor Doukas has been no help. When Israeli Ambassador Noam Katz called on him to address the graffiti surge, Doukas responded by accusing Israel of killing civilians. Victor Eliezer, general secretary of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, noted that when relatives of Israeli hostages visited Athens and sought a meeting with the mayor, they were told he was “unavailable.” Eliezer did not mince words: “The mayor of Athens did not do enough to protect his city and its minorities.”
Benjamin Albalas, a Holocaust survivor born in Athens in 1937 who survived the Nazi occupation as a hidden child, has been direct about what is driving the violence: extremist groups, particularly from the progressive left and the Communist party, are exploiting the Gaza conflict as cover to attack Israel and Jews.
CAM DEMANDS ACTION
It is against this backdrop that CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa traveled to Athens, walked its streets, and sent a formal letter to Mayor Doukas. The letter, published in full below, demands concrete steps: removal of antisemitic graffiti, enforcement of hate speech laws, and an unequivocal public condemnation of Jew-hatred. The full letter is available at combatantisemitism.org.
“Dear Mayor Doukas,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a global coalition of over 50 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations united in the fight against antisemitism in all its forms.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Athens — a city I have long admired for its history, culture, and its foundational role in the development of democratic ideals. However, I must be candid with you: the experience was deeply unsettling.
Within minutes of walking through your city, we were confronted with a disturbing reality. Walls covered in slogans such as ‘smash Zionism,’ Israeli flags defaced with swastikas, and repeated markings used not as calls for peace, but as vehicles for hostility and intimidation. It was everywhere, impossible to ignore.
I also witnessed a public demonstration in Athens where participants proudly displayed a banner praising the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ — imagery directly linked to Iranian-backed terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. This is not political expression. This is the open celebration of groups that have murdered civilians, taken hostages, and openly call for the destruction of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
These are not harmless expressions; they form a pattern that creates an atmosphere where antisemitism feels visible, tolerated, and normalized.
Mayor Doukas, Athens is considered the cradle of democracy. The values of equality, justice, and human dignity were born here. And yet, the city is allowing public spaces to be used to spread hatred toward Jews — hatred that has a long and catastrophic history in Europe, including in Greece itself. More than 80% of Greek Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki, once one of the most vibrant in the world, was nearly wiped from the earth. Those walls covered in antisemitic imagery stand in the shadow of that history.
Confronting antisemitism in all its forms is not only a responsibility — it is a test of the values Athens claims to represent.
We urge the municipality of Athens to take the following concrete steps:
Remove antisemitic graffiti and symbols from public spaces promptly and consistently. Enforce existing laws against hate speech and incitement. Issue a clear and unequivocal public statement condemning antisemitism and the glorification of terrorist organizations on the streets of Athens. Engage with the Jewish community and organizations such as CAM to develop a sustained strategy for combating antisemitism in your city.
The Jewish people have faced millennia of persecution. We know all too well what happens when hatred is left unchecked, when leaders look away, when ‘political expression’ becomes a cover for dehumanization. History does not forgive inaction.
I urge you, Mayor Doukas, to act now — not merely with words, but with the kind of decisive leadership that the gravity of this moment demands.
Sincerely, Sacha Roytman Dratwa CEO, Combat Antisemitism Movement”
Mayor Doukas has not responded. The swastikas on the walls of Athens remain.
