Once pro-Palestinian, Greece is now one of Israel’s closest European allies
Al JazeeraThe two countries share energy ambitions, defence partnerships and a mistrust of Turkey, analysts say. “The Turkish criterion, a permanent fixture in the Greek foreign ministry, dictates that we can’t have good relations with Israel if it is also developing its relations with Turkey,” a senior Greek government official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. Greece’s budding friendship with Israel “is not personal or partisan, but represents a national strategy that is going on for close to 15 years”, said Tziampiris. In 2022, Greece would also buy the Drone Dome anti-drone defence system from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and in 2023 it would buy dozens of Orbiter 3 surveillance and reconnaissance drones, also from Rafael. “Hosting Hamas was always an issue between Israel and Turkey and when we talked about rapprochement it was an issue that was on the table, and it’s still on the table,” Israeli ambassador Noam Katz told Greece’s Open TV.
History of this topic
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