UN condemns terrorist attack on Israeli embassy in Athens

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously condemned the gun attack against the Israeli embassy in Athens on Friday, as Greek police said a far-left group was responsible.

The 15-member world body on Saturday “condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack against the Embassy of Israel in Athens” which saw dozens of shots fired at the building. No-one was hurt in the incident.

As the investigation continued, police said two unidentified assailants on the back of motorcycles opened fire on the embassy with Kalashnikov rifles in the early hours of Friday, with 54 spent cartridges found by the road.

The Security Council was quick to praise the Greek government’s swift intervention, saying: “Any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivations, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”

Israel immediately blamed the Palestinian leadership, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon saying: “The international community must condemn this continuing incitement which leads to these results.”

Despite overwhelming public sympathy for the Palestinian cause in Greece, the government has taken a tough stance, forbidding its citizens from taking part in flotillas aimed at breaking Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Police said the same guns used in the attack on the embassy were used in a similar attack last year by a left-wing anarchist group called ‘Popular Fighters’.

Greek anarchists have attacked several foreign embassies in the capital in recent years, and in December the German ambassador’s home was shot at.