AIPAC and Israel Allies Foundation Build Parliamentary Footholds in Cyprus and Greece as Local Parties Object

An AIPAC delegation led by outgoing president Bernard Kaminetsky and president-elect Yehuda Neuberger met Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides this week to discuss what the group called "security partnerships in the Eastern Mediterranean" among Israel, Cyprus and the United States.

The meeting followed a separate move eight days earlier. On October 14, after his own meeting with Christodoulides, Israel Allies Foundation president Josh Reinstein announced the launch of a parliamentary caucus in Cyprus, describing Turkey as a "common enemy" of Israel and Cyprus. Members of the governing Democratic Party (Diko), the opposition Democratic Rally (DISY), and the far-right National Popular Front (Elam) attended the inauguration.

The IAF was founded by Benny Elon, a far-right Israeli politician who, before his death in 2017, called for the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The organization advocates recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel's capital and supports the occupation of the West Bank. It remains unclear which, if any, of those positions the participating Cypriot parties have endorsed.

The Greek branch of the same caucus effort has drawn its own scrutiny. The investigative outlet Reporters United reported that former Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras was among several MPs who attended a private meeting on October 12 ahead of the caucus's formal establishment. The full membership of the Greek group has not been made public.

Opposition in Cyprus has been pointed. The small party Volt Cyprus issued a statement on October 20 titled "No to the institutionalisation of foreign lobbies in parliament."

"As a small state fighting to be vindicated by international law, it is contrary to our national interests to give acritical support to country credibly accused of genocide, apartheid and crimes against humanity, and whose leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court," the party told Middle East Eye.

Volt Cyprus said it fears AIPAC's model of influence over US politics could be replicated in Cyprus, and warned that closer alignment with Israel, paired with rising friction with Turkey, risks turning Cyprus into a proxy in any future confrontation.

The Progressive Party of Working People (Akel) went further in an open letter to parliamentary speaker Annita Demetriou, calling the formation of MP groups working with foreign organizations "to our knowledge, an unprecedented development in Cypriot parliamentary practice." The letter cited the finding by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry that Israel committed genocide in Gaza as grounds for "substantive discussion" before any such association proceeds.

A third network, Transatlantic Friends of Israel, which operates through the American Jewish Committee's Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute, opened a Cyprus chapter in late September with the same three parties, Diko, DISY and Elam, attending its launch.

In Greece, the leftist MeRA25 United Left condemned the IAF caucus as a mechanism for installing Israeli influence inside parliament. No Greek or Cypriot body has yet published a full roster of caucus members or disclosed the terms of the arrangements with IAF, AIPAC or TFI.