Roughly 1,000 Israeli passengers were stranded Tuesday afternoon at the port of Souda on the Greek island of Crete after pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the exit from the port, preventing them from continuing their cruise.
The passengers had arrived aboard the MS Crown Iris, operated by Israeli company Mano Maritime. “We got off the ship and wanted to leave the port, but about ten pro-Palestinian demonstrators stood there with ‘Free Palestine’ signs, shouting and blocking the exit,” passenger Yossi Manor said. “The Crete police are helpless—they closed the gates, and the officers won’t let us out.”
Israeli passengers stranded in Greece
(Video: Yossi Manor)
Videos showed stranded Israelis singing “Vihiye li od yoter tov” (“And I’ll feel even better”) by Sasson Ifram Shaulov as they waited inside the port.
Manor said that before the blockade, several buses managed to leave toward Chania, but protesters threw stones at them. “There are police everywhere, and the chief of police is here, but they’re afraid of confrontation. They talk to us instead of to the demonstrators,” he said. “They keep saying they’ll move them soon, but it’s been almost an hour and nothing happens.”
Eventually, the remaining passengers were placed on buses, but protesters continued blocking their path. Some Israelis clashed with officers, who issued fines in response.
Manor and other travelers expressed anger toward Mano Maritime, claiming the company knew about the planned protest. “Three coast guard ships escorted us on the way to the port, which already seemed suspicious,” he said. “Many passengers are elderly or disabled—people with wheelchairs and walkers—standing in the heat for hours, hoping to get out. It feels like the company doesn’t care.”
This is not the first such incident. In August, pro-Palestinian activists protested outside a Mano Maritime cruise ship docking in Heraklion, delaying Israeli tourists before police dispersed the crowd. A week earlier, a similar protest in Syros prevented 1,600 passengers from disembarking. Some Israelis staged a counter-protest, waving Israeli flags and singing “Ma’aminim Bnei Ma’aminim” (“Believers, sons of believers”). After hours of delay, the ship was rerouted to Limassol, Cyprus.