Stav Ben Shoshan, a 32-year-old father of four from Kiryat Gat, was vacationing with his wife in Greece when he was assaulted on Friday by a group of Syrian migrants at Bolivar Beach near Athens. The attack, which he described as antisemitic, left him with a severe ear injury. Both the assailant and Ben Shoshan were arrested, after the attacker filed a counter-complaint accusing Ben Shoshan of assault.
“I don’t understand where the state is. This is abandonment of citizens. It’s terrorism, plain and simple,” Ben Shoshan told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth from his hospital bed in Athens.
Ben Shoshan said the incident began when he and his wife arrived at the beach and struck up a conversation with a pair of Israeli tourists sitting nearby. “Out of nowhere, a Muslim man approached, started filming us and shouting ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘F*** Israel,’” he recalled. “At first, we ignored him, not wanting a fight. But then he told the man sitting in front of us, ‘I’m Hamas,’ picked up sand and rocks and threw them at the man and his wife.”
Fearing the situation would escalate, Ben Shoshan said he confronted the man, pushing him and exchanging shoves. Security staff at the private beach intervened and removed the assailant and two companions, one of whom had tried to attack Ben Shoshan as well.
Thinking the ordeal was over, Ben Shoshan said he and his wife resumed their day. But later, while returning from the restroom, he noticed two of the assailants standing very close to his wife. “My instincts kicked in. I thought they were trying to hurt her,” he said. “I ran over, grabbed one and pushed the other with my hands. As I was holding one of them to prevent him from hurting her, he bit my ear.”
Fueled by adrenaline, Ben Shoshan didn’t feel it immediately. “I managed to push them away and suddenly realized I was covered in blood. My wife was screaming, ‘You’re missing a piece of your ear.’ I touched it and saw that part of it was gone.”
Police arrived at the scene and arrested the attacker. Ben Shoshan was treated on-site and taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he underwent a three-hour surgery to reattach the severed piece of his ear to his neck in hopes it could be saved. Yet he, too, was placed under arrest after the assailant filed a police complaint claiming Ben Shoshan had attacked him for speaking Arabic.
“I’m lying here in an Athens hospital, and I’m under arrest,” he said. “Tomorrow the court is supposed to hear my statement and might decide otherwise.”
“If the state can’t protect us, it should close Ben Gurion Airport,” he added bitterly.
Ben Shoshan said he never imagined his vacation would end this way. “I still can’t comprehend how someone bites off another person’s body part. It’s monstrous,” he said. “My wife was traumatized. Seeing your husband’s ear on the ground is horrifying.”
He also criticized the Israeli government for what he described as minimal support. “We don’t know what’s going on. The embassy is in touch, but it’s absurd. To me, this is a terror incident. Someone capable of biting off my ear could have just as easily stabbed me or smashed a bottle over my head. He’s a terrorist, full stop,” he said.
He noted he had to hire a local attorney at his own expense—both to secure his release and to sue the attacker, who is being investigated for a hate crime, and the beach, which failed to prevent the assailants from returning and launching a second attack.
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“There’s minimal state support,” he said. “Our country needs to wake up. One person loses an ear, another a leg, and the state does nothing? Then say, ‘Don’t leave Israel. Don’t allow flights.’ But if you do, take responsibility.”
He concluded: “I expect the state to talk to the Greek government and make sure I’m released. The minimum is that I, as the victim, should walk free while my attacker serves serious time. I’m not some punk looking for a fight—I’m an ordinary citizen who does good for others in Israel and in Greece.
"Israelis fund a big part of Greece’s tourism economy. I don’t understand where the state is. This is the abandonment of its citizens. If you can’t protect us, shut the airport. The state must show it defends its people. Someone must come here and demand to know why I’m in custody—and go after my attacker.”