Radicals who blocked Israeli ship didn’t represent Syros, locals say David Isaac
https://www.jns.org/radicals-who-blocked-israeli-ship-didnt-represent-syros-locals-say/
The island’s leadership calls it “the crisis.” The scene at Syros last week, when passengers from an Israeli cruise ship were prevented from disembarking at the Greek island by anti-Israel demonstrators, rose to the level of an international incident.
Israel’s foreign minister called his counterpart to intervene. The ambassadors of Israel and Greece became directly involved. Greece’s Minister of Citizen Protection promised to throw the book at anyone trying such a stunt again.
The stunt was tried again. On Monday, protesters, though fewer in number, gathered at the port in Rhodes to protest the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship. As it turned out, it was the same cruise ship that couldn’t stop at Syros—the MS Crown Iris operated by Mano Maritime, a Haifa-based shipping firm. This time, police were prepared, and the Israeli tourists disembarked peacefully.
Less reported is that the ship was received in a special ceremony by the mayor of Rhodes, the governor of the South Aegean Region, representatives of the Dodecanese Chamber of Commerce and other personages, who welcomed the passengers in a show of appreciation for Israeli tourism.
Greece is an enormously popular tourist destination for Israelis, to the point where many shopkeepers even speak some Hebrew.
Yuval Peleg, spokesman for Mano Maritime, told JNS that Greeks say Israelis are the freest spending of all tourists in the country, including Europeans.
Israelis favor Greece for the proximity and the sense of personal security they have there. It remains to be seen whether a series of recent anti-Israel incidents—including a Syrian migrant biting off part of an Israeli’s ear—will erode enthusiasm for Greece.
Greece and Israel have also drawn closer politically in recent years, cooperating on various energy and security projects, and sharing a mutual concern about Turkey.
Everybody in Syros is sad’
Do the anti-Israel incidents, including physical attacks, indicate a disconnect between the Greek government and its citizens, or is it the work of a few extremists?
If Syros is any indication, the answer is the latter. The incident shows how a few activists—“radical leftists,” according to one Syros public official—succeeded in spoiling the visit both for hosts and guests.
The protesters were outsiders, coming from other parts of Greece, said Martakis Notis, a marketing and tourism consultant helping Ermoupolis, the capital of Syros, manage the crisis.
“Everybody in Syros is sad because the image broadcast by the demonstrators didn’t represent the island, which is civilized and welcoming to people from all over the world,” Notis told JNS.
Syros roundly condemned the activists. In a statement released on July 22, the day of the incident, the island’s deputy mayor of tourism, Ioannis Voutsinos, said: “Today’s events do not reflect the true character of Syros… nor do they represent the majority of its residents.”
Mano Maritime’s Peleg said that the cruise line waited at the port, hoping the police would intervene, “but the police did nothing. The ship was scheduled to visit for six hours. After two hours, there wasn’t enough time for people to do anything on the island, so we decided to leave and go somewhere else.”
The municipality agreed that the local police had badly mismanaged the situation.
Peleg said that Mano Maritime only occasionally makes stops at Syros. It’s not clear whether the cruise line will keep the island on its itinerary in the future. “The next time we are scheduled to go back to Syros is in October, part of a 10-day tour. We probably won’t go there, but it’s not finalized yet,” he said.
Mano Maritime hasn’t spoken directly to the municipality. “We spoke with the Greek ambassador to Israel. We spoke with the ambassador of Israel in Athens. We spoke with the Foreign Ministry and so on. Everyone was very, very angry about what happened,” he added.
Syros’s Notis said that he hopes Mano won’t remove the island from its programming. He pointed to a statement by Greece’s minister of citizen protection to the effect that anyone trying to prevent people from entering Greece “will face prosecution, arrest, and then criminal proceedings under the anti-racism law.”
It’s not clear how much financial damage the island suffered from the one incident. However, Notis said the main concern is the island’s reputation, damage to which could cost it far more down the road than the loss of revenue from one ship.
“All of us involved in tourism promotion invested money and effort in promoting this island as a beautiful, welcoming destination. This incident goes against all that investment,” said Notis.
“It hurt them more than it hurt us,” Mano’s Peleg agreed.
Passengers on the MS Crown Iris were in high spirits despite missing Syros. “I met them when they landed in Israel on Thursday morning [July 24]. They were all very excited. They said that instead of Syros, they got Cyprus. People didn’t feel bad about the change in plans,” said Peleg.
‘There was this huge cheer’
Adam Mallerman, a JNS social-media manager, happened to be vacationing on the ship with his wife and 9-year-old twins. He admitted feeling “very disappointed” not to see Syros as it’s relatively “unspoiled,” with fewer visitors than the other islands. “Syros is quiet and sleepy. They only take about one cruise ship a week,” he said.
When the vessel arrived at Syros, he and his family made their way down to Deck 2, from which passengers disembark. They were met by a big crowd, which was unusual.
“It was packed, and usually they’re quick to move everybody through. We’re not moving. People are shouting,” he recalled. “The crew at the gate, who we could see were not Israeli, hadn’t a clue what was going on,” he said.
Outside, they saw Israeli security personnel equipped with earpieces. Mallerman went up to Deck 7, the promenade deck, and saw a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the end of the concrete walkway to the island.
He realized immediately they weren’t going to see Syros. “I said to my wife, ‘It’s a tiny island. Even if they break up the demo, they’re not letting us off, because that’s what the Shabak [Israel’s Internal Security Service] guys are there for, assessing danger, and it’s not safe,” he told JNS.
But what happened next he described as “uplifting.” When the ship left Syros, his family headed to Deck 5, which has piano bars. They watched the island of Mykonos go by. Two young men approached a young woman playing piano, a cruise line employee. They asked her if she knew any songs by Eyal Golan, a popular Israeli singer.
“She starts to play. They start to sing—very badly. Then there’s five people singing, and then 10 people, and then there’s 50. And she went on for two hours playing the kind of Israeli songs that all Israelis know,” he said.
“And then the cast of the cabaret, who were Cuban, suddenly come out with drums and Israeli flags, and start to dance around that open deck, Deck 5, playing ‘Am Yisrael Chai.’ The atmosphere was amazing,” he said.
At the show that night, the atmosphere was again incredible, he said. “People were really upbeat. Nobody complained. Then the captain announced that we were all going to Limassol. And there was this huge cheer.”
On arrival in Limassol, there was also a small anti-Israel demonstration, but it was kept away from the ship by police. Mallerman was disturbed to see graffiti on the pavement at the Cypriot port: “Kill Israeli soldiers,” and “We don’t want Israeli soldiers here.”
The irony of it all for Mallerman is that he picked a cruise to get away from it all: “We were going to go to Hadera. There’s a nice hotel there that the kids would love. And my wife said, ‘No, I want to get all of us, especially you, away from the news. You need a complete break.”
“I ended up in the middle of two news stories, because we went into Limassol in the middle of the fire,” he said, referring to the conflagration that ravaged southern Cyprus last week.
Before that, at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Mallerman woke with a start to the familiar sound of an incoming missile alert on his cell phone. He had forgotten to turn off the cellular data setting. His phone picked up an Israeli signal.
“I’m out of bed like a shot. I’m putting my shoes on and then realized, ‘Wait a minute. I’m on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean.’”
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