Israeli Tourist Denied Service at Athens Restaurant Citing Nationality

Anna Dushin, a new immigrant from Haifa, Israel, reported being refused service at Vinoir Bistro in central Athens on the night of July 13. She said the incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. when, after ordering a hookah alone, a young employee asked her nationality. Upon learning she was Israeli, he immediately took the hookah away and refused to serve her further. Dushin described feeling humiliated, frightened, and upset, especially since she lived in an apartment above the restaurant and had to pass by it daily. She emphasized that the refusal was solely due to her Israeli nationality and that she had not behaved inappropriately before the incident. Attempts to obtain a response from the restaurant were unsuccessful.

This event adds to a series of recent reports of hostility and discrimination against Israelis abroad amid ongoing regional tensions. In September, a 29-year-old Israeli man was lightly injured in an attack by three Palestinians near Syntagma Square in Athens, involving also a 30-year-old Israeli woman. Earlier, an Israeli tourist was seriously hurt in an assault by Syrian migrants at a beach near Athens, suspected to be antisemitic; the attacker was arrested but also filed a complaint against the Israeli victim for alleged racist remarks.

Last year in July, masked assailants vandalized King David Burger, a kosher restaurant in Athens owned by Israelis, shortly after its opening. The attackers caused property damage and spray-painted threatening graffiti with anti-Israel slogans. This incident sparked a public dispute between Israeli Ambassador Noam Katz and Athens Mayor Haris Doukas, with the ambassador criticizing the mayor for insufficient efforts to ensure Israeli tourists' safety, and the mayor responding angrily, accusing Katz of focusing on graffiti while a severe conflict was ongoing in Gaza.