Women enter a Jewish restaurant in central Athens, March 28, 2023. Greek police sources said they arrested two men who targeted the building. (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images)

Greek authorities arrested and charged seven people Thursday for two separate attacks earlier this year on a synagogue and an Israeli-owned hotel in Athens.

The incidents represented one of the latest instances of violent antisemitism in Europe since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7. In France, a 12-year-old girl was recently the victim of an alleged antisemitic rape, and this spring, a German synagogue was targeted with a molotov cocktail. 

Other recent reported targets of attack on the continent have included the Israeli embassies in Belgium and Sweden. Last weekend, an attacker who wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade was shot dead. 

Antisemitism Notebook

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Four of the suspects in Greece — a Greek citizen, two Iranians and an Afghan accomplice — were charged in connection with a May incident in which a homemade bomb targeted an Israeli-owned hotel and restaurant, Reuters reported. Another three — one Greek, one Afghan and one Iranian — were also arrested in connection with a June incident in which police said two of them threw flammable material at the entrance to an Athens synagogue.

The hotel attackers were accused of plotting a racially motivated attack on a foreign-owned property, and also charged with arson that put human lives at risk. The synagogue suspects were likewise charged with arson, as well as robbery and a number of other crimes, authorities said.

Greece saw an incident of high-profile antisemitic terror one year ago, when authorities foiled a planned attack on a Chabad-Lubavitch center in Athens.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount