One day before today’s signing of the Greece-Israel agreement on “Achilles’ Shield” at the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized the European Union in a post on Platform X, stating that “while it takes a hard line against Israel, it turns a blind eye to the fact that Turkey, despite being a NATO member, continues to occupy half of Cyprus.”
Why now?
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
As Gabriel Charitos, an analyst at ALPHA Cyprus covering Middle East issues, noted, this is not the first time that Netanyahu, ministers in his government, as well as his son, Yair, have highlighted the Turkish occupation of Cyprus in their public statements—and this is one possible reason why the Israeli media did not place much emphasis on its content.
However, the significance of this particular post lies in the timing Netanyahu chose to publish it. It is most likely that by reminding people of Turkey’s occupation of Cyprus, just a few hours before the “signing” with Greece for the “Achilles Shield,” Netanyahu was in fact offering the Greek government a public relations tool to use “as it sees fit”—and specifically, in the event that the signing of this major defense agreement provoked backlash from the left-wing opposition parties in Greece.
The Political Climate in Greece
The Greek Left is not opposed to strengthening the country’s defense capabilities. However, it strongly criticizes the strengthening of Greece’s relations with Israel in light of the situation in the Middle East, with the result that opposition parties have invested significant political capital in this specific issue, which has polarized Greek public opinion.
Beyond that, however, we must not forget that parliamentary elections will be held in Greece in the coming months, with the country already in an informal pre-election period, and the issue of the state of Greek-Israeli relations featuring prominently in the local news.
The importance the Mitsotakis government attaches to managing the public image of its good relations with the Netanyahu government is evident in significant details.
Absence of a political figure…
Specifically, it is telling that no political figure from Greece was present at today’s signing of the “Achilles Shield” agreement. The contract was signed by Major General Ioannis Bouras, director of the General Directorate of Defense Equipment and Investments of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, while on the Israeli side, it was signed by the Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Amir Baram.
Of course, no protocol requires that contracts with such content be signed in the presence of political figures. On the other hand, however, no protocol prohibits it, and the Greek Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, had worked hard and persistently to reach this specific agreement. However, a joint photograph of Dendias with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, whose statements have at times been subject to varied commentary not only from the Greek left-wing opposition but also internationally, it is clear that it “would add fuel to the fire” in terms of public relations within Greece.
Finally, it is equally noteworthy that the Israeli government, for its part, refrained from demanding the presence of a political figure at today’s signing of the agreement, with all that this might imply.
Delicate Greek Balancing Act Between Israel and Lebanon
But the government in Athens is also proving to be very cautious at the regional level. As ALPHA Cyprus first reported in its main news broadcast on Saturday (August 29), on the same day that the defense ministries of Greece and Israel announced the date for signing the “Achilles Shield” agreement, the Greek army delivered 13 armored vehicles and 10 general-purpose military vehicles to the Lebanese Army.
In fact, the Greek Embassy in Beirut posted photos and videos online of the handover of the Greek military equipment—something that, by Greek standards, is generally considered unusual from a communications standpoint.
It is also worth noting that today’s signing of the agreement with Israel coincided—probably not by chance—with the official visit of the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to Athens, where Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, repeatedly emphasizing in his public statements that Greece strongly supports the efforts of the Lebanese government to regain full control of its national territory, reiterating once again that Greece is clearly in favor of preserving Lebanon’s unity.
Athens’ “Precision Maneuvers”
With parliamentary elections on the horizon, and in line with the Greek government’s “precision maneuvers,” by the Greek government, it is clear that the Mitsotakis administration is being very cautious in how it communicates the excellent relations it has developed with Israel on a wide range of issues, keeping an eye, on the one hand, on the opposition’s reactions and, on the other, on the country’s relations with Arab regional actors, with an emphasis on the extremely delicate balances between Greece, Israel, and Lebanon—a balance that Athens is determined to maintain.
Watch Gabriel Charitos’ analysis on tonight’s main news broadcast on ALPHA Cyprus with Dimitra Makrygianni:
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