Gadi Eisenkot’s election sign, which was hung all over Cyprus, is causing a stir in the country. On the sign are pictures of Eisenkot and a text in Hebrew: “Israelites, enjoy! You deserve it.” The sign appears in an area where quite a few Israelis live on the neighboring island, and its publication caused great concern among the locals.
“This photo was not taken in Israel, but in my country, Cyprus,” wrote the local politician, Phidias Panayiotou. “This time it’s political propaganda, but you’re also increasingly seeing billboards advertising real estate in Hebrew across the island. This is simply not true. We must protect the sovereignty of Cyprus.”
In the past, we have already published about the concern in Cyprus about the number of Israelis who have recently bought real estate on the island, including the politician Phidias Panayiotou who emphatically claimed that “Israel is buying Cyprus” through an aggressive expansion of real estate purchases and large-scale land development projects. The legislator’s warnings reflect a growing concern in the Greek Cypriot government about what is perceived as excessive dependence on foreign capital, and the possibility that outside interests will exert an unreasonable influence on the country’s internal affairs.
Panayiotou’s concerns center on the creation of what he calls “closed residential circles,” where concentrated Israeli investments establish separate communities with independent infrastructure, including private schools. While admitting that foreign investments from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, China and Great Britain are a permanent component of the Cypriot economy, the member of the European Parliament claims that the specific concentration of Israeli activity, combined with lax government supervision and corruption, threatens to fundamentally change the character of the island. He calls for immediate legislation to increase transparency in real estate transactions, to ensure that foreign entities, some of which sometimes operate through local straw companies, do not circumvent national regulation.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Nicosia was quick to respond at the time and repel this narrative. Israel’s ambassador to Cyprus, Oren Anolik, issued a strong statement against the terminology describing the Israeli presence as “takeover” or “uncontrolled influence”, calling it disturbing and dangerous. He claims that “such rhetoric, directed against the Jewish people and their state by echoing harmful historical myths of economic dominance, fuels anti-Semitism.”
As you remember, yesterday we also published about An advertising sign of an Israeli real estate company, which has been posted for a long time at the airport in Athens, has in recent days provoked sharp criticism from tourists and Israelis living in Greece, who claim that its message damages the image of Israel and arouses anger among some of the locals. Following the criticism, the company announced that the sign will be replaced in the near future. “We took note of the criticism that arose.”