The Democratic Party (DIKO), the Democratic Rally (DISY) and the National Popular Front (ELAM) fully agree that the current and previous governments were right to strengthen ties with the United States and Israel, DIKO leader Nikolas Papadopoulos said on September 30 as MPs from the three parties launched a Cyprus chapter of Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI).
The three parties together hold 33 seats, a majority in parliament. The launch came days after AKEL protested outside the Presidential Palace against cooperation with Israel during a visit to Cyprus by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
TFI is a cross-party group of about 154 legislators, set up in 2019 by the AJC Transatlantic Institute, the Brussels office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Its members hold that Israel should be recognised as an integral part of the West’s security, political and economic framework. Papadopoulos chairs the Cyprus chapter, with DISY MPs Charalambos Petrides and Giorgos Karoullas and ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou as vice-chairs.
The chapter was launched a week before the third anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel. AKEL and other parties often described as anti-establishment have repeatedly criticised Cyprus’s foreign policy, particularly on Israel. A CyBC poll last January found that 41 per cent of Cypriots regarded Israel as the country Cyprus could rely on for its defence, up from 9.5 per cent in May 2024.
Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos, US Ambassador John Breslow and Israeli Ambassador Oren Anolik attended the launch, a luncheon hosted by the AJC. Benedetta Buttiglione, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, said the new chapter would act as a parliamentary lever for ties between Cyprus and Israel, giving legislators from both sides of the Atlantic and across the political spectrum a forum to exchange ideas and tackle shared challenges.
Papadopoulos
Papadopoulos told the gathering that he and his colleagues came from different parties and did not agree on everything, but were in complete agreement that the steps taken by both governments had been right for Cyprus, the region and the Middle East.
He argued that TFI would greatly help strengthen relations between the two countries, further a much-needed European insight into the Middle East and promote cooperation in energy, defence and innovation.
Both countries had suffered tragedy and been victims of injustice and violence, he said, and their people and sovereignty were still under threat, with extremism, nationalism and terrorism still felt across the region. The struggle of both peoples, he added, was a fight for western values, human rights and the right to exist.
Speaking on the eve of Independence Day, Papadopoulos said Cyprus began its struggle for independence just seven years after Cypriots saw what Israel had done, inspired by its success. In a part of the world with its share of dictatorships, suffering and oppression, he said, the two countries were “the only two oases of democracy”.
He paid tribute to Anolik, who is leaving Cyprus, and said he had recently visited the Nova Music Festival memorial with the AJC and other European parliamentarians, describing it as a deeply emotional experience.
Defence record
Petrides, defence minister from 2020 to 2023, said the relationship between Cyprus, Israel and the United States was not a theoretical concept for him. He pointed to the Cyprus-US Defence and Security Dialogue, military education under the IMET programme, an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and a State Partnership Programme with the New Jersey National Guard. He also cited the US decision in September 2022 to lift its long-standing arms embargo on the Republic of Cyprus, which he called an important milestone.
Defence links with Israel had deepened, including on capabilities and armaments, alongside trilateral cooperation with Greece, he said, adding that equipment acquired from Israel would be on display at the Independence Day military parade the following day.
Petrides described these as concrete steps rather than diplomatic declarations and said the chapter came at the right time. “Our geography gives us an important role. But geography alone is not enough,” he said, adding that he would work to build bridges and strengthen parliamentary and political dialogue.
Turkey
Ioannou said the relationship between Cyprus and Israel could become a strategic partnership of real importance for the Eastern Mediterranean, and that the two countries should expand their work together in fields ranging from defence, military training and intelligence to cybersecurity, trade, healthcare and energy.
For Cyprus, he argued, the relationship had an added strategic dimension, as Turkey’s continued aggressive behaviour, its military presence and its illegal occupation of part of the Republic’s territory showed that Cyprus needed strong partnerships and reliable allies. He said Turkey also intervened aggressively in the Middle East, “directly threatening Israel’s interests and aligning itself with terrorists”.
Relations between Cyprus and Israel should become deeper, stronger and more strategic, he added.
Kombos
Speaking separately in a recent interview with CyBC, Kombos, who holds regular contacts with counterparts and officials across the region’s Arab countries, said no country in the region had ever raised Cyprus’s relations with Israel at a diplomatic level, directly or indirectly. On the contrary, he said, the relationship was seen as an asset because Cyprus could talk to all sides.
Responding to criticism at home, Kombos said the Palestinian leadership and the Arab world thanked Cyprus, but this did not satisfy “some who may consider themselves more Palestinian or Arab than those who are”. The criticism did not necessarily reflect the facts, he argued, and while it had a pan-European political tinge, he respected it but did not share it in Cyprus’s case.
Whatever Cyprus did in this area would never be enough, he said, because critics either believed the relations should not exist, were bothered by them, or wanted Cyprus to speak constantly in undiplomatic language.
Phileleftheros understands that further activities aimed at bringing the parties and parliaments of Cyprus and Israel closer will follow in the coming period.
TFI’s campaigns include calls for the EU to ban Hezbollah and to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation. Before Cyprus, it already had chapters in the European Parliament, the US Congress, Italy and Austria.
Read more:
