Response from Jerusalem

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ meeting with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday in Jerusalem left in Greece and Israel the feeling that the good level of their bilateral relations is not only confirmed, but is upgraded and expanded. In addition to the typical “staff” phrases, which are decorating every official press release, the stigma was made by the artificially spontaneous first highlight of Mr Netanyahu, who addressed his Greek counterpart, said that Greece had decided to “change it”. And indeed, in the mid -1990s, in the early years of Netanyahu Prime Minister, the Israeli economy began to “wean” by its statism. It was gradually liberalized, leaving the field free for high -tech start -ups, which quickly joined the now -honorable domestic military industry, known today for its extroversion. In this sense, the brief highlighting of the Israeli Prime Minister may mean a lot.

An additional stigma of originality came from the Greek media. Referring to the issues of the agenda of yesterday’s meeting, he added the possibility of co -producing weapons systems, in view of a series of scheduled contacts by Mr Mitsotakis with agents of the Israeli Defense Industry. This new fact fits perfectly with the apparent “change of orientation” recently observed at the EU level, starting with Germany, which recently transformed the funding framework for the development of its war industry. Unusually quick European reflections seem to affect the other EU member states, including Greece-a fact that will probably not leave its regional strategic partners indifferent.

Although Mitsotakis and Netanyahu did not refer again to the progress of the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electric interconnection, it is clear that any doubts about the implementation of the venture had already been undertaken at the recent trilateral conference of foreign ministers in Athens. Thus, for this important issue, the feeling he left in Jerusalem is that the mutual silence, in fact, sealed the conclusions.

Ankara observes

The various precursors further expanding Greece-Israel relations were interpreted by the Israeli press as “the decision of the two countries to be a embankment in the revisionist tendencies of Turkish politics”, as Maariv typically points out in its analysis. Such a reading is not irrational, if one considers that, while on the same day Netanyahu and Mitsotakis were discussing in Jerusalem’s deepening of transnational cooperation, Turkish President Erdogan, addressing the citizens of his country, cited “the help of God”. At the same time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry, while once again criticizing military operations in Gaza, warned in a statement yesterday that Ankara would not remain a spectator in possible “changes in regional balances” that the Israeli side is seeking to do so.