Israeli tourists said they were violently attacked near and inside their hotel on the Greek island of Crete early Sunday morning by assailants armed with sharp objects and rifles who shouted “Fuck Israel” and “Free Palestine,” leading them to fear for their lives.

The group of young Israelis was walking home from a party in the coastal town of Malia while singing in Hebrew at around 4 a.m., when the attackers began shouting the slogans at them, according to report by Israel’s National Center for Combating Antisemitism and channels 12 and 13.

“We yelled back at them, and there was an argument. We then got closer to the hotel, and suddenly we saw a bigger group arrive and that they had called more people over for backup,” Raz, 17, told Channel 12.

“They began to jump us and throw glass bottles. One of them got close to me and tried to break a bottle on my head, but luckily my friend stopped him,” he said.

The attackers pursued them into the hotel compound, armed with air rifles and sharp objects, where they began to search for Israeli and Jewish guests, the National Center statement said.

One Israeli suffered a head injury from being shot with an air gun, according to the statement.

The Israeli tourists locked themselves in their rooms, and “several youths reportedly sent distress and........

© The Times of Israel