Israel, Greece and Cyprus will work to advance a long-touted landmark energy deal, pledging to deepen post-war security and defense cooperation in a volatile region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
“The Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean are being tested by aggression, terrorism and instability,” Netanyahu said after a trilateral summit with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Jerusalem. “Our partnership provides strength, clarity and cooperation that will prevail over chaos.”
Holding their 10th such summit, the three eastern Mediterranean allies share a strategic partnership focused on energy, defense and economic ties.
The much-discussed deal to link the three countries’ electrical grids—referred to as an “energy highway”—is to be carried out via the world’s longest and deepest underwater electricity cable, crossing the Mediterranean seabed and bridging Asia and Europe.
The countries have also been mulling cooperation on an offshore natural-gas deal that could establish an energy corridor to Europe and beyond, including Arab countries in the region.
Netanyahu said he would discuss the project during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, which is expected to take place next week in Florida.
“Our presence here today is not symbolic; it is substantive,” Cypriot President Christodoulides said at the summit, just eight days before Cyprus assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. “The partnership between Cyprus, Greece and Israel is of strategic importance, not only for our three countries, but also for our region and beyond.”
“This cooperation has yielded tangible results, and we look forward to strengthening it,” Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis said.
‘Physical and digital protection against sabotage’
The burgeoning ties between the three countries offer a counterweight to ongoing threats by historic regional rival Turkey.
“It is true that all of our countries were conquered in the past by a succession of empires,” Netanyahu, flanked by the Greek and Cypriot leaders, said in his remarks. “But through courage and sacrifice, we achieved our independence in modern times. To those who fantasize they can re-establish their empires and their dominion over our lands, I say: Forget it. It’s not going to happen. Don’t even think about it.”
The prime minister added that “we are committed and able to defend ourselves, and our cooperation further enhances that capability.”
“As we experience deteriorating relations with Turkey, it should be expected that Israel will strengthen its already existing overt and covert cooperation with Greece and Cyprus on various Mediterranean issues,” Uzi Rabi, a professor at Tel Aviv University, told JNS on Monday.
Turkey has long been a regional rival to Greece, while relations between Jerusalem and Ankara have again hit rock bottom in the face of the heightened hostility of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We can expect that this summit will not only further the establishment of joint energy infrastructure between the three countries, including underwater electric cables, but also come with the understanding that this infrastructure will need both physical and digital protection against sabotage, both from Turkey in Cyprus’ case, and from the Palestinians and Iranians on Israel’s side,” said Elai Rettig, an assistant professor at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan.
The summit followed reports over the creation of a joint rapid-response military force in the region amid growing concern in Athens over Turkey’s expanding challenges.
The leaders of Israel, Cyprus and Greece, who have called the ties between their nations an “unprecedented strategic partnership,” pledged to hold an annual summit.
