PIRAEUS: A series of pro-Palestinian protests targeting an Israeli cruise ship around Greece have irritated a conservative government walking a diplomatic tightrope with Middle Eastern powers during the Gaza war.
At the crack of dawn on Thursday at the port of Piraeus outside Athens, dozens of riot police armed with truncheons, tear gas and shields sealed up a cruise terminal from hundreds of demonstrators.
Their ire was directed at the “Crown Iris,” a hulking Israeli tourist ship that has attracted protests at each of its stops in the country since last month.
Tourism is a pillar of the Greek economy, but pro-Palestinian activists say the visitors “whitewash” Israel’s devastating war in Gaza that was sparked by the unprecedented 2023 Hamas attack.
According to the All Workers Militant Front (PAME), a communist-affiliated union that called the rally, the Crown Iris was carrying Israeli soldiers.
“We cannot tolerate people who have contributed to the genocide of the Palestinian people moving among us,” protester Yorgos Michailidis told AFP in Piraeus.
“We want people everywhere to see that we don’t only care about tourism and the money they bring,” the 43-year-old teacher said.
For Katerina Patrikiou, a 48-year-old hospital worker, the visitors “are not tourists — they are the slaughterers of children and civilians in Gaza.”
Ties with Israel
Greece traditionally maintained a pro-Arab foreign policy, but governments of different political stripes have in recent years woven closer ties with Israel in defense, security and energy.
Athens has carefully tried to protect both relations during the war, accusing the left-wing opposition of undermining the strategic Israel alliance aimed at counterbalancing the influence of historic rival Turkiye in the eastern Mediterranean.
“The useful idiots for Turkiye have been in our ports, where their extreme actions seriously damage Greece’s image in Israel,” Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis wrote on X last month.
“We must protect this alliance as the apple of our eye and isolate these fools... Those who exhibit antisemitic behavior act against Greece’s interests.”
Before joining the ruling conservative party in 2012, Georgiadis was a prominent member of far-right party Laos, which had a history of anti-Semitic statements.
When first named health minister a year later, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had urged the government to reconsider, noting that Georgiadis had made “troubling remarks” about Jewish people and had promoted an anti-Semitic book.
In 2017, he publicly apologized for having “coexisted with and tolerated the opinions of people who showed disrespect to my Jewish compatriots.”
Several protests each rallying hundreds of people attempted to prevent the Crown Iris from docking at Mediterranean islands including Rhodes, Crete and Syros last month, with occasional scuffles between demonstrators and police.
According to The Times of Israel, the ship’s owners decided to skip Syros after 200 people protested as the vessel approached.
Israel’s ambassador to Greece, Noam Katz, condemned an “attempt to harm the strong relations between our peoples, and to intimidate Israeli tourists” in Syros.
Greece’s Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis has said that anyone who “prevents a citizen of a third country from visiting our country will be prosecuted” for racism.
“Nobody is racist”
PAME accused the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of using antisemitism allegations “to whitewash the crimes of the murderer state, suppress any reaction, and any expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
“Nobody is racist, nobody has a problem with Jewish identity... Our problem is the people who support genocide,” Michailidis said at Thursday’s rally.
The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Gaza’s Hamas rulers resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Palestinian militants also took 251 hostages that day, with 49 still held in Gaza, including 27 who the Israeli army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
An Israeli aid blockade has exacerbated already dire humanitarian conditions in the devastated strip and plunged its more than two million inhabitants into the risk of famine.
Pro-Palestinian tourist ship protests irk Greek government
https://arab.news/4sveg
Pro-Palestinian tourist ship protests irk Greek government
- Pro-Palestinian protests targeted a hulking Israeli tourist ship at each of its stops in the country since July
- They say the visitors “whitewash” Israel’s devastating war in Gaza that began in late 2023
Lufthansa adds more flights to Asia, Africa as Middle East war reshapes air travel
- Airlines across Europe have been redirecting capacity after suspending services in the Middle East
- Lufthansa said the move also helps meet demand on long-haul routes that Middle Eastern carriers cannot currently serve
LONDON: Lufthansa said on Friday it was shifting capacity from 10 canceled Middle Eastern destinations to routes such as Singapore and Bangkok as it contends with disruption from the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Airlines across Europe, including budget carrier Wizz Air , have been redirecting capacity after suspending services in the Middle East.
Lufthansa said the move also helps meet demand on long-haul routes that Middle Eastern carriers cannot currently serve.
Airline stocks have slumped this week as US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran — and retaliatory strikes by Iran across the Middle East — have disrupted long-haul flights and sent oil prices soaring.
“The war in the Middle East proves once again how exposed air traffic is and how vulnerable it remains,” Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said in a statement. He added the outlook was uncertain, particularly for jet fuel costs.
The schedule changes came as the German group reported better-than-expected 2025 results, saying stricter financial management and fleet renewal had helped contain costs and lift profits. Its shares rose as much as 4 percent, before reversing to trade down 1.2 percent at 1246 GMT.
The company said demand on routes to and from Asia and Africa had risen strongly since the conflict began on Saturday, and it would stick with its focus on expanding long-haul services. Spohr said new flights to Asia would launch in days.
Lufthansa did say how many services it had canceled because of the conflict.
While carriers face costs for rescheduling and rerouting, the biggest impact for those outside the Middle East is expected from surging fuel prices. Brent crude futures have jumped more than 20 percent this week.
Spohr said Lufthansa was well hedged in the short term. The group hedges fuel up to 24 months ahead and was 85 percent hedged as of December 31, according to its annual report.
RESILIENCE
European carriers, including Lufthansa, benefited from slightly lower fuel bills in 2025. Lufthansa’s fuel bill fell 7 percent, helping support earnings as passenger demand stayed firm.
“Last year we were able to significantly increase the Group’s operating profit and achieved the highest revenue in our history. Our results demonstrate the resilience and stability of the Group,” Spohr said.
Lufthansa reported an adjusted operating profit of 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), compared with 1.9 billion euros forecast in a company-compiled analyst poll and up from 1.6 billion euros in 2024. The group also posted an operating margin of 4.9 percent, up from 4.4 percent a year earlier.
Lufthansa aims to lift operating margins to 8 percent-10 percent between 2028 and 2030 from 4.4 percent in 2024, but strikes by workers, including the most recent on February 12, have made it harder to boost profitability.
Bernstein analyst Alex Irving said ongoing weakness in the passenger airline segment persisted, but that strong performances in Cargo and Lufthansa Technik helped lift profits.
The carrier said the outlook for 2026 was unclear due to geopolitical uncertainty. It projected capacity growth of 4 percent, alongside increased revenue and profit margin.
