Geography Bot: New page: Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections (Europe wave 3c W3c); every reference checked

2026-10-25T13:02:58Z

New page: Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections (Europe wave 3c W3c); every reference checked

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{{Zionist movement sidebar}}
{{short description|'''Greece: its Jewish community, the EastMed alliance with "Israel" and Cyprus, and Israeli arms deals'''}}
Between 4,200 and 6,000 Jews lived in '''Greece''' in 2000, according to an estimate cited by the [[World Jewish Congress]] (WJC); 96.5% of the pre-war community was murdered in the Holocaust.<ref name="WJCGR">World Jewish Congress, [https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/GR Community in Greece] ''worldjewishcongress.org'', accessed 25 October 2026.</ref> Greece, Cyprus and "Israel" signed the EastMed gas pipeline agreement in 2020,<ref name="PMOEastMed2020">Israeli Prime Minister's Office, [https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/event_eastmed020120 EastMed Gas Pipeline Agreement Signed at Trilateral Summit between PM Netanyahu, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot Pres. Nicos Anastasiades] ''gov.il'', 2 January 2020, accessed 25 October 2026.</ref> and in 2021 [[Elbit Systems]] won a $1.65 billion contract to run the Hellenic Air Force's flight training centre.<ref name="Elbit2021">Elbit Systems, [https://www.elbitsystems.com/news/elbit-systems-awarded-165-billion-contract-flight-training-program-part-agreement-between Elbit Systems Awarded a $1.65 Billion Contract for Flight Training Program, as Part of Agreement Between Israeli and Hellenic Ministries of Defense] ''elbitsystems.com'', 18 April 2021, accessed 25 October 2026.</ref>

==Jewish community==
Most Greek Jews live in Athens, followed by Thessaloniki. The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, the WJC's affiliate, is the umbrella body for nine communities: Athens, Thessaloniki, Larisa, Volos, Corfu, Chalkis, Ioannina, Trikala and Rhodes. The WJC describes the rise of the Golden Dawn party as "especially worrying to Greek Jews".<ref name="WJCGR" />
===Chabad===
:''Main article: [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement]]''
The WJC notes that Chabad helps provide kosher food in Greece.<ref name="WJCGR" />

==Holocaust==
The WJC says that by the end of 1945, 96.5% of the Greek Jewish community had been murdered, and that fewer than 2,000 of the 50,000 Jews of pre-war Thessaloniki survived.<ref name="WJCGR" />
==Israeli state and commercial ties==
===Diplomacy===
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Greece as upgraded in May 1991, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Athens.<ref name="MFA2011">Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110805075305/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/about%20the%20ministry/diplomatic%20missions/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations] ''mfa.gov.il'', archived 5 August 2011.</ref> According to the WJC, full diplomatic relations were established in 1991, and in August 2010 Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister to make an official visit to Greece. The Israeli embassy is at 1 Marathonodromon Street, 154 52 Palaio Psychiko, Athens.<ref name="WJCGR" />
===Greece–Cyprus–"Israel" alliance and EastMed===
On 2 January 2020, at the seventh trilateral summit in Athens, the energy ministers of "Israel", Greece and Cyprus signed the agreement for the EastMed gas pipeline, to run from "Israel" through Cyprus and Greece to Europe. [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] said: "This is a true alliance in the Eastern Mediterranean that is economic and political" and that "Israel is rapidly becoming an energy superpower".<ref name="PMOEastMed2020" />
===Arms trade===
In April 2021 [[Elbit Systems]] announced a contract worth about $1.65 billion to set up and operate the International Flight Training Center of the Hellenic Air Force for about 20 years, as part of an agreement between the Israeli and Greek defence ministries.<ref name="Elbit2021" /> SIPRI also records Greek orders for Spike NMT coastal defence systems with Spike-NLOS missiles (part of a EUR270 million deal, 2023), Spike-NLOS missiles for AH-64 helicopters (EUR45 million, 2023), leased Heron maritime patrol drones (2020–2021), and 36 PULS multiple rocket launchers in a EUR650 million deal that included component production in Greece, selected but not yet ordered by the end of 2025.<ref name="SIPRI">Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, [https://armstransfers.sipri.org SIPRI Arms Transfers Database] ''SIPRI'', trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.</ref>
===Trade===
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $1,098.8 million from Greece in 2025 (2024: $983.6 million) and exported goods worth $427.9 million to it (2024: $494.6 million).<ref name="CBS">Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), [https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/DocLib/2026/fr_trade12_2025/td1.pdf Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports] ''CBS'', December 2025 issue (library copy).</ref>
==Political interference==
===UN voting===
Greece voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.<ref name="UNNY2025">United Nations General Assembly, [https://www.alquds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Voting-rec-L.1-Rev.1.pdf Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution], 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by ''Al-Quds Al-Arabi'').</ref>
==Ehud Barak emails==
The following items come from the two leaked mailboxes of the former Israeli prime minister and defence minister [[Ehud Barak]] (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by [[Handala (hacker group)|Handala]], a group that [[Distributed Denial of Secrets]] describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.<ref name="DDoSBarak">Distributed Denial of Secrets, [https://ddosecrets.org/article/ehud-barak-emails Ehud Barak emails], 27 August 2025, with download at [https://data.ddosecrets.org/Ehud%20Barak%20emails/ data.ddosecrets.org], accessed 25 October 2026.</ref>

*On 19 July 2015 Joshua Hantman sent Barak a "one pager" on a plan by a subsidiary of Cyprus-based Cynergy Capital, Cynergy Financials, to raise EUR100–200 million to buy Eurobank Cyprus "from its current Greek parent company". It said that Barak would be offered a 0.5% success fee if he brought in at least EUR10 million through his contacts.<ref name="BarakGR1">Email from Joshua Hantman to Ehud Barak, "One Pager on Eurobank Cyprus", 19 July 2015, file <code>ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!12/1 (364).html</code>, ''Ehud Barak emails'', [https://ddosecrets.org/article/ehud-barak-emails Distributed Denial of Secrets], released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026.</ref>
*On 8 August 2015 Jeffrey Epstein forwarded to Barak an exchange with Noam Chomsky, in which Epstein had written: "Only go to Greece if you feel well, I just had to send my plane to bring another lefty friend back from Athens to see a Jew doctor in New York." Chomsky replied that he had decided not to go, adding: "I was invited to talk at the Parliament, but what can one say?"<ref name="BarakGR2">Email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, "Fwd: Re:", 8 August 2015, file <code>ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!11/1 (429).html</code>, ''Ehud Barak emails'', [https://ddosecrets.org/article/ehud-barak-emails Distributed Denial of Secrets], released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Cyprus]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Albania]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bulgaria]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Croatia]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Kosovo]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Montenegro]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to North Macedonia]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Romania]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Serbia]]
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Slovenia]]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Zionist movement|Greece]]
[[Category:Greece]]
[[Category:Europe|Greece]]

Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Greece - Revision history

Geography Bot: New page: Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections (Europe wave 3c W3c); every reference checked