Lawmakers from DIKO, DISY, and ELAM gathered on 30 September to establish a Cyprus branch of Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI). At the occasion, DIKO leader Nikolas Papadopoulos stated that all three parties held the view that both the current and preceding administrations had acted appropriately in deepening relations with the United States and Israel. Combined, those three parties command 33 parliamentary seats, enough to form a working majority.
The chapter was formally established three days before the week marking the third anniversary of the Hamas assault on Israel. A few days before the launch, AKEL had gathered outside the Presidential Palace to voice opposition to cooperation with Israel, timed to coincide with a visit to Cyprus by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Founded in 2019 under the auspices of the AJC Transatlantic Institute — the Brussels-based arm of the American Jewish Committee — TFI brings together roughly 154 legislators drawn from across the political spectrum. The group's position holds that Israel should sit within the broader architecture of Western security, political, and economic arrangements, treated as a constituent part rather than an external partner. Chapters in the European Parliament, the US Congress, Italy, and Austria had already been established before Cyprus joined.
The Cyprus chapter's leadership structure places Papadopoulos at the helm, with deputy roles distributed among DISY parliamentarians Charalambos Petrides and Giorgos Karoullas alongside ELAM's parliamentary representative Sotiris Ioannou.
Among those present at the AJC-hosted luncheon marking the launch were Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos, US Ambassador John Breslow, and Israeli Ambassador Oren Anolik. Buttiglione, who leads the AJC Transatlantic Institute, described the new chapter as a mechanism for strengthening Cyprus-Israel ties through parliamentary engagement, offering lawmakers from across the political spectrum on both sides of the Atlantic a dedicated space to compare perspectives and work through common concerns together.
Speaking to those assembled, Papadopoulos noted that he and his fellow delegates represented different parties and held divergent views on various matters, yet on one point there was no division among them: that the actions taken by both governments had been appropriate for Cyprus, the wider region, and the Middle East. He contended that TFI stood to reinforce bilateral ties, bring European perspectives on the Middle East into sharper focus, and open pathways for collaboration across energy, defence, and innovation sectors.
He said both nations had experienced loss and faced injustice and violence in the past, and that their populations and territorial integrity remained under pressure, with challenges including extremism, nationalist movements, and terrorism continuing to manifest across the broader region. He added that both peoples were engaged in a common cause centred on defending human rights, civil liberties, and their fundamental right to exist.
Addressing the nation on the eve of Independence Day, Papadopoulos stated that Cyprus launched its independence movement seven years after Cypriots observed what Israel had achieved, drawing on that experience as a source of motivation. Describing the region as one where authoritarian rule and the suppression of civil liberties had taken hold across multiple states, he characterised the two countries as the sole places where democratic governance had managed to take root. Paying tribute to Anolik ahead of her departure from Cyprus, he noted that a visit to the Nova Music Festival memorial alongside the AJC and fellow European parliamentarians had left a profound mark on him.
Petrides, who held the defence portfolio between 2020 and 2023, described the trilateral ties linking Cyprus, Israel, and the United States as something he had experienced in practical terms rather than as an abstract idea. Among the frameworks he cited were the Cyprus-US Defence and Security Dialogue, military education delivered through the IMET programme, a cross-servicing arrangement formalised under the ACSA designation, and a State Partnership Programme linking Cyprus to the New Jersey National Guard.
Among the points he raised was the United States' move in September 2022 to end a longstanding arms embargo against the Republic of Cyprus, a development he described as an important step forward. Trilateral cooperation with Greece formed part of the picture he outlined, while ties with Israel had grown across capabilities and armaments, with hardware procured from that country set to feature in the Independence Day military parade scheduled for the following day.
Petrides framed the chapter as a moment of practical action rather than rhetorical gesture, noting that the timing aligned with the country's needs, and added that its geographic position carries with it a meaningful regional responsibility. He noted that proximity alone would not suffice, and outlined plans to foster cross-border connections while deepening ties between legislative and political institutions.
Speaking through a statement, Ioannou put forward the view that ties between Cyprus and Israel hold the potential to develop into a strategically meaningful partnership across the Eastern Mediterranean, with cooperation between the two nations worth broadening into areas such as defence, military training, intelligence, cybersecurity, trade, healthcare, and energy. He contended that Cyprus faced a distinct strategic dimension in the relationship, pointing to Turkey's military presence on part of the Republic's territory and its conduct in the region as reasons why the island required dependable partners and durable alliances.
He added that Turkey had also pursued an assertive role in the Middle East, with its actions there described as posing a threat to Israeli interests and fostering ties with groups designated as terrorist organisations. He expressed the view that ties between Cyprus and Israel ought to grow closer and take on a more strategic character.
AKEL, along with several parties grouped under the anti-establishment label, has voiced objections on multiple occasions to the direction of Cyprus's foreign policy, with its stance toward Israel drawing particular attention. Survey data gathered by a news channel in January showed that four in ten Cypriots — 41 per cent — named Israel as the country their nation could depend on for defence, a figure that had stood at just 9.5 per cent in May 2024.
At a recent interview broadcast on a news channel, Kombos stated that no country within the region had brought the question of Cyprus's ties with Israel to a diplomatic table, whether through direct channels or by other means. He argued instead that Cyprus's ability to engage with all parties made the relationship a diplomatic strength rather than a liability.
Facing domestic pushback, Kombos noted that both Palestinian and Arab leadership had expressed gratitude toward Cyprus, though he added that this acknowledgement appeared insufficient for those who, in his view, positioned themselves as more representative of Palestinian or Arab interests than the people directly involved. He contended that the criticism did not necessarily align with the facts and, while he acknowledged its pan-European political character, his view was that it did not apply to Cyprus's circumstances.
He argued that no action taken by Cyprus on that front would satisfy its detractors, given that some opposed the very existence of those ties, others found them objectionable in principle, and still others wanted Cyprus to adopt a consistently confrontational tone in its public statements.
Planned exchanges between the political parties and parliamentary bodies of Cyprus and Israel are anticipated to take shape over the months ahead. Among the advocacy efforts pursued by TFI are calls directed at the EU to place Hezbollah under a formal ban and to list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a proscribed terrorist organisation.
