AKEL Secretary General Stefanos Stefanou has accused Israel of refusing to tolerate any criticism and wanting “to control everyone” in response to the Israeli ambassador’s accusations of antisemitism against the party.
Speaking on state radio on Saturday and asked to comment on the Israeli ambassador’s statements, Stefanou said “Israel does not tolerate any criticism and wants to control everyone”. He added that AKEL opposes misanthropic ideologies.
Stefanou claimed that according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and what he termed “his servants”, antisemites include UN Secretary-General António Guterres for criticising what Stefanou called “Netanyahu government’s genocide in Gaza”, former EU High Representative Josep Borrell, and the BBC, which made critical comments about what he described as “the criminal policy of Israel’s far-right approach”.
Property purchases require stricter framework, Stefanou says
The AKEL leader also referenced land purchases by third-country nationals in Cyprus, highlighting the need for a stricter institutional framework that concerns not only Israelis but also Chinese and Russian investors and others who come to buy property.
Stefanou emphasised that the party has no connection to antisemitism and, due to its ideology, does not hate people.
The comments came as a response to Israeli Ambassador Oren Anolik’s accusations that the party’s Secretary General used antisemitic rhetoric when discussing Israeli property purchases in Cyprus.
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