The Greece Israel alliance now reaches beyond government circles into Greek public opinion, Israeli political scientist Dr Neil Bar argued in an analysis published by Ynet on Monday 19 October.
Bar holds affiliations with the University of Haifa’s School of Political Science. He also works with the university’s Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism. In addition, he is linked to the Center for Right-Wing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
His article, “Greece once stood against Israel. Now it stands with it”, traces the Greece Israel alliance from decades of hostility to close partnership. It appeared in the outlet’s opinion and analysis section, so its views are the author’s own.
How the Greece Israel alliance took shape
According to Bar, Greece was the last Western-bloc country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, in 1990. For decades, Greek governments backed Arab states and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he wrote.
In 1982, the Andreas Papandreou government hosted PLO leader Yasser Arafat in Athens on his way from Beirut to Tunis. Bar adds that, at the time, hostility towards Israel was also deeply rooted in the public.
The turning point, he argues, came later with the Mavi Marmara crisis in 2010. That episode drove Israel away from Türkiye and closer to Greece. Bar writes that the trilateral Israel–Greece–Cyprus framework followed in 2016. It grew stronger as Türkiye became a shared strategic threat, he argues.
Security ties within the Greece Israel alliance have since deepened. In August, Greece signed a missile deal with Israel worth US$3.5 billion, Al Jazeera reported. Greek City Times reported on 14 October that Israel returned 22 ancient artefacts to Greece.
What the surveys show
Bar cites a 2019 survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that found 67 per cent of Greeks held antisemitic attitudes. The European average was 24 per cent. A 2025 ADL survey found a decline of nearly 20 per cent, he wrote.
Local polls also pointed to an especially sharp shift on the right, according to Bar. Specifically, hostility towards Israel among right-wing voters fell by 33.5 per cent between 2019 and 2022, he wrote.
He also cites a Pew Research Center survey from March. It found the Greek right was the most supportive of Israel among political groups surveyed, at 45 per cent.
Beyond the right, Bar points to a July survey in which 42.2 per cent of Greeks saw Israel as an ally. Only France scored higher. In a separate May poll, 55.7 per cent backed keeping the Greece Israel alliance, including about one-third of far-left voters. However, his article does not name the firms behind those two polls.
Ministers back closer ties
In October, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said: “Public opinion in our country has shifted dramatically in a pro-Israel direction.” Migration Minister Thanos Plevris has said the whole Western world is fighting Israel’s war against terrorism, Bar wrote.
Greek City Times reported on 14 October that Georgiadis described anti-Israel protests as “antisemitic propaganda”. Bar also notes the far-right political backgrounds of both ministers, who now distance themselves from those positions.
Similarly, Bar sees the same process in Cyprus. There, lawmakers from three parties set up a local chapter of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel in October. Together, those parties hold 33 of the 56 seats in parliament. Members of ELAM were also among those involved, he wrote.
Critics of the Greece Israel alliance
The Greece Israel alliance still has firm opponents. In particular, Greek communists want relations with Israel cut, Bar wrote. Former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has also warned of a takeover of parliament by the “Israeli lobby”.
In Cyprus, claims of an “Israeli takeover” through immigration, schools and synagogues have also emerged, Bar wrote. He adds that the Lemkin Institute and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese have echoed similar claims.
Pro-Palestinian sentiment also remains visible in parts of Greece. Al Jazeera reported on 19 October that Palestinian flags hang from balconies in the Athens district of Exarchia. There, some residents oppose property purchases by Israeli investors. In 2025, Greek City Times reported on protests targeting Israeli tourists on Greek islands.
Overall, Bar concludes that the Greek public now tends to lean towards Israel, between the two extremes. In his words, the change “is no longer confined to the corridors of power”. Bar adds that Greece has become one of Israel’s most important strategic partners.
Source: Ynet
The post Israeli Analyst Says Greece Now Stands With Israel appeared first on Greek City Times.