The official logo of the Israeli cargo shipping company Zim.
A makeshift explosive device went off on January 17 morning outside the Greece offices of Zim, Israel’s main international cargo shipping company, Greek police sources and Hebrew media reported.
Two gas canisters were used in the attack which caused slight material damage to a wall and a fuse panel in the building hosting Zim offices in the port city of Piraeus.
Protest leaflets were found at the entrance of the building reading “Freedom for Palestine,” which indicates that the attack was carried out by pro-Palestinian activists as a form of protest to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
Police detained a number of suspects after the attack, according to the state-run Athens News Agency. However, they were later released.
Vessels owned by Israel or trading with the country have been attacked in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen more than once since the war in Gaza first broke out. There have also been several reports of attacks on Israel-affiliated ships in the Indian Ocean, most of which were blamed on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Zim itself was impacted by the war. Last December, the Malaysian Government rescinded its permit for the company to use their ports, responding to “Israel’s actions that ignore basic humanitarian principles and violate international law” in Gaza.
The recent attacks in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean halted most of the shipping to Israel’s most southern port Eilat. In addition, insurance rates for ships sailing to the country’s ports have reportedly risen.
