In a post on social media, Georgiadis described the protest as “shameful for Greece” and characterised the demonstrators as “anti-Semites”. He tagged the Israeli embassy in Athens and stressed the importance of preserving strong bilateral ties.

“Today’s events in Syros are shameful for Greece,” he wrote. “We owe an apology to these friends of Greece who chose to spend their holidays here and were forcibly denied it by some. This fact should not harm our relations with @IsraelinGreece nor the love of Israeli tourists for Greece. Our country remains hospitable to all, and anti-Semitism has no place here!”

In later comments, the minister escalated his rhetoric, calling the protest “unthinkable” and “very offensive for Greece”.

“Some people – regardless of where they come from, unless Israelis have lost their human status – paid for a ticket and chose to holiday in Greece. Others went and forcibly stopped them, for reasons of their own. I find this tragic.”

Georgiadis reiterated his “message of strong alliance and friendship with Israel”, asserting that “Israelis are welcome in Greece and anti-Semitism cannot exist in our country”.

In an apparent attempt to deflect criticism of the government’s handling of the incident, he added: “Since there’s been criticism of the government, let me point out that two prosecutors were present and made the decision on whether to intervene.”

The protest, which took place under heavy port authority restrictions, including a partial ban on traffic and parking in the Nissaki area to facilitate the movement of Israeli tourists, was entirely peaceful. Demonstrators unfurled giant Palestinian flags and held banners reading “Stop the genocide”, occupying the port area and successfully blocking the disembarkation.

The Crown Iris later departed without its passengers setting foot on the island.

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