The coach of Israel’s national soccer team, Ran Ben Shimon, said Tuesday that he was shoved last week in Athens by a man shouting derogatory statements.

The incident last Thursday joined a growing list of reported anti-Israel incidents in Greece over the past week. Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar called on Greek authorities on Tuesday afternoon to “act against these expressions of antisemitism.”

The coach and an assistant coach, Gal Cohen, were in Athens ahead of a game between Hapoel Beersheba and AEK Athens. The pair were walking down the street when a man approached them and, according to a statement from the Israel Football Association, “began making derogatory remarks, apparently after he heard them conversing in Hebrew.”

“The two ignored him and after he initiated bodily contact with them, they distanced him from the area together with other civilians,” the statement, reported by the Kan public broadcaster, added.

Channel 12 reported that the man screamed, “Free Palestine.”

“The ugly incident in Athens was dealt with quickly and efficiently, and I’m sorry only for the boorishness and rudeness of that person,” Ben Shimon said in a statement reported by Hebrew media. “I doubt he even identified us as coaches of the national team, and I presume what led to this was our being Israelis who were speaking Hebrew.”

He added, “I’m proud to represent my country anywhere. This definitely won’t deter me in the future.”

Ben Shimon was also in Paris for a game in November 2024 when anti-Israel protesters demonstrated against a pro-Israel gathering linked to the far right.

The incident occurred amid several other anti-Israel altercations in Greece, a popular tourist destination for Israelis.

On Saturday, an Israeli man said someone approached him on the beach, yelled “Fuck Israel, I am Hamas,” and bit off part of his ear. Days earlier, a group of Israeli teenagers were accosted by a group of anti-Israel assailants while vacationing in the Greek island of Rhodes. The previous day, an Israeli-owned cruise ship was prevented from docking at the Greek island of Syros and was instead rerouted to Cyprus due to a large anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protest taking place at the port.

On Monday, scuffles broke out between riot police and demonstrators in Rhodes during a protest against the war in Gaza, while an Israeli cruise ship was docked at the island, local media reported.

On Tuesday afternoon, Zohar appealed to the Greek government to address the attacks.

“It’s worrying to see the anti-Israel escalation in Greece, even though relations between Israel and Greece were and will continue to be among the best and closest among the countries of Europe,” he posted on X. “I expect the authorities to act against these expressions of antisemitism, which are worthy of all condemnation and enforcement.”

He added, “I trust the Greek government to act on the issue and not to allow extreme views and violent actions space in the public square.”

Anti-Israel incidents have also been reported elsewhere in Europe, including one instance in which a group of Israeli musicians was allegedly refused service in a Vienna restaurant after speaking Hebrew.