‘Trying to dominate’: In Cyprus, some fear Israel’s growing influence

Israel now reaches into Cyprus’s water, gas, health and defence and a number of Cypriots fear their island is losing control.

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides speaks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus September 10, 2026 [Yiannis Kourtoglou/Pool/Reuters]

Nicosia and Limassol, Cyprus – Heavily bearded and wearing a loose shirt collar, Christos Achniotis speaks about the history and demographics of Cyprus and runs off dates from memory.

He was 16 when Turkish troops landed in Cyprus in mid-1974. At one point, Limassol has long had a large Russian community, he said, but that revolved around property investments.

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Now, he believes there is pressure from Israel, which he says is “trying to dominate as much as possible, land-wise, company-wise”, as well as politically and militarily.

Israel’s reach in Cyprus now runs through the state’s most vital systems.

Christos Achniotis in Nicosia [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

Mekorot, Israel’s state water company, helps supply the island’s water. Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned arms maker, is supplying its new air defences. And Israeli firms run a growing hospital network and hold a stake in the country’s largest gasfield.

Israel’s economy is about 15 times Cyprus’s, according to the World Bank, and Israel’s military spending is about 73 times that of Cyprus.

Cyprus’s government presents the ties as a security alliance against Turkiye, but several Cypriots interviewed by Al Jazeera said they feared their country is handing another state control of systems it cannot live without.

Israel is “a small area with big money and a big military”. Cyprus is strategically placed in the Mediterranean and, just a 35-minute flight away, is an attractive piece of land, said Achniotis.

Cyprus gets about 80 percent of its drinking water from the sea.

With its dams just 21 percent full in March, desalination plants supply most of what comes out of its taps, according to the Water Development Department.

Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou said in June that desalination would cover almost all domestic demand by next year.

Mekorot has joint ventures with Cypriot firm Netcom that run two of the island’s five permanent plants, at Larnaca and Episkopi, according to the Water Development Department. In August, Mekorot expanded its cooperation with Cyprus, signing a memorandum with the Nicosia District Water Board to help manage water and sewerage in the capital.

A pipe system to transfer water from Israel to Jordan by Mekorot, near Kibbutz Masada by the border with Jordan [File: Menahem Kahana/AFP]

For Danae Laou, who works in hospitality in Limassol, the water deals crossed a line.

“It’s terrifying to see, but at the same time, we have no power,” she said.

Today’s occupation of Palestine is in part facilitated by control of vital resources. “I can see the same thing happening here”, she said.

Palestinians know Mekorot well.

In the occupied West Bank, the company is on the United Nations list of businesses linked to illegal Israeli settlements.

Najla Abdellatif Vallander, a Swedish-Palestinian environmental advocate who founded Zero Waste Palestine, has tracked Mekorot’s work in Palestine and abroad and told Al Jazeera that its operations in the West Bank are akin to “water theft”, diverting Palestinian sources to illegal Israeli settlements.

“Israeli settlers are able to enjoy almost unlimited amounts of water while Palestinians are not allowed to use their own water sources,” she said.

Palestinians “have to buy back their own water sources from Mekorot”, and are mostly barred from digging their own wells. “This is water apartheid,” she said.

At the time of publishing, Mekorot had not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Activists lift flags of Cyprus and Palestine as they march in support of Palestinians in Nicosia [File: Alex Mita/AFP]

Israel’s economic footprint has grown fast.

Investors in Israel held 5.1 billion euros ($5.7bn) of investment in Cyprus at the end of 2024, more than six times what they held in 2017, according to the Central Bank of Cyprus.

The true figure may be higher as the data excludes Israelis living in Cyprus or elsewhere, and may miss money routed through companies whose owners are hard to trace.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is also weighing a bid for the Cyprus Stock Exchange, which the government is privatising, Cyprus Mail and the Israeli business daily Globes reported this month.

The Cypriot exchange’s European Union licence would give Israel “greater access to the Eurozone market”, a source close to Cyprus’s Ministry of Finance told the Cyprus Mail.

Health is the newest.

Hadassah Medical Centre Limassol, the Israeli hospital group’s first centre in Europe, began seeing patients in July and was formally opened on Thursday.

Its opening was ratified in Israel by Hadassah’s governing bodies, including the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America.

Offshore, Israel’s NewMed Energy owns 30 percent of the Aphrodite gasfield, according to its filings to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The two governments are also negotiating over the field, which Israel says extends into its waters.

An IAI’s BARAK-MX air defence launcher in Ashdod, Israel [File: Amir Cohen/Reuters]

Israel has also been flexing its military muscle.

Israeli special forces have trained in Cyprus’s Troodos mountains, whose terrain resembles southern Lebanon, according to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

In 2022, the two armies held their largest joint exercise yet, simulating a war with Hezbollah, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Cyprus is replacing its Russian-made air defences with the Barak MX, built by Israel Aerospace Industries, with deliveries beginning in late 2024.

Israel presents itself as a guardian against Turkiye.

Following a coup in Cyprus backed by Greece’s military government in July 1974, Turkiye invaded the island and has occupied its northern part ever since. Only Turkiye and its Turkish Cypriot leadership recognise Northern Cyprus.

In late December 2025, Israeli and Cypriot military officials signed a 2026 cooperation plan covering joint exercises, training, and “strategic military dialogue”, the Israeli military said.

On Tuesday, a pro-Israel advocacy group, the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF), launched a caucus of six Cypriot lawmakers from three parties in Nicosia. Its president, Josh Reinstein, told reporters after the group’s meeting with the Cypriot president at the presidential palace on Wednesday that Turkiye is a “common adversary”, according to the Cyprus Mail.

The opposition party AKEL called it “extremely provocative”, asking what credibility Cyprus has in demanding pressure on Turkiye while backing “another occupying and settler state”, the Cyprus Mail reported.

Last month, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “illegally occupies northern Cyprus, an EU member”.

Danae Laou in Limassol [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

Netanyahu “knows what he’s doing”, said Ioanna Lamprou, a writer in Limassol.

Cypriots who feel the world has forgotten the occupation , she said, will “become more sympathetic to Israel and to Netanyahu’s government because of this”, but they “don’t understand that what’s happening in the West Bank is illegal occupation as well”.

Laou understands the government’s reasoning; from its perspective, she said, “Cyprus can’t protect itself from anything.”

Ceylan Hassan, a Turkish Cypriot researcher and environmental social scientist, said the British had won over Cypriots the same way, by promising to keep them safe from a bigger threat.

Israel is doing “the whole colonial thing of let’s create a problem and then be the solution to it and never let it go”.

In 1902, Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, presented a pamphlet to a British Parliamentary Committee with the idea of establishing a Jewish homeland in Cyprus. He offered a pamphlet with the title: The problem of Jewish immigration to England and the United States solved by furthering the Jewish Colonisation of Cyprus.

Britain’s colonial secretary refused, saying Greeks and Muslims lived there, according to Herzl’s diary.

Herzl mused, “The Greeks will gladly sell their lands at a good price and migrate to Athens or Crete.”

Achniotis has thought about that history more since the genocidal war on Gaza began.

Watching what is happening to Palestinians, he said, “I think it can happen to anyone.”

As the onslaught happened so easily, with the acceptance of the US and European governments, “you feel a kind of insecurity,” he said. “Why are they going to respect you?”

以色列现在已将触角伸向塞浦路斯的水、天然气、医疗和国防领域，许多塞浦路斯人担心他们的岛屿正在失去控制权。

2026年9月10日，塞浦路斯总统尼科斯·赫里斯托祖利季斯在塞浦路斯尼科西亚总统府与以色列总统伊萨克·赫尔佐格会晤。[Yiannis Kourtoglou/Pool/路透社]

塞浦路斯尼科西亚和利马索尔——克里斯托斯·阿赫尼奥蒂斯蓄着浓密的胡须，穿着宽松的衬衫领子，讲述着塞浦路斯的历史和人口统计，并能凭记忆说出日期。

1974 年年中土耳其军队登陆塞浦路斯时，他 16 岁。他说，利马索尔曾经长期拥有庞大的俄罗斯社区，但这主要围绕房地产投资展开。

问题 1/3：希腊为何与以色列签署价值 35 亿美元的导弹协议？

列表 2/3：塞浦路斯渡轮事故中 20 名失踪人员的深海搜寻工作开始

列表 3（共 3 项）“每个国家都走自己的路”：巴尔干政治如何影响与以色列的关系

现在，他认为以色列施加了压力，他说以色列“试图在土地、公司以及政治和军事方面尽可能地占据主导地位”。

以色列在塞浦路斯的影响力如今已渗透到该国最重要的系统中。

尼科西亚的克里斯托斯·阿赫尼奥蒂斯 [尼尔斯·阿德勒/半岛电视台]

以色列国家水务公司Mekorot为该岛提供供水。以色列航空航天工业公司（一家国有军火制造商）为其提供新型防空系统。此外，以色列企业还运营着不断壮大的医院网络，并持有该国最大天然气田的股份。

根据世界银行的数据，以色列的经济规模约为塞浦路斯的 15 倍，而以色列的军费开支约为塞浦路斯的 73 倍。

塞浦路斯政府将这些关系描述为对抗土耳其的安全联盟，但半岛电视台采访的几位塞浦路斯人表示，他们担心自己的国家正在将一些它离不开的系统控制权拱手让给另一个国家。

阿赫尼奥蒂斯说，以色列“面积虽小，但财力雄厚，军事实力强大”。塞浦路斯地处地中海战略要地，距离以色列仅需35分钟航程，是一块极具吸引力的土地。

塞浦路斯约 80% 的饮用水来自海水。

据水利发展部称，由于3月份水库蓄水量仅为21%，海水淡化厂供应了大部分自来水。

农业部长玛丽亚·帕纳约图在6月份表示，到明年，海水淡化将满足几乎所有国内需求。

据水利发展部称，Mekorot与塞浦路斯公司Netcom成立了合资企业，运营着该岛五座永久性水厂中的两座，分别位于拉纳卡和埃皮斯科皮。今年8月，Mekorot扩大了与塞浦路斯的合作，与尼科西亚地区水务局签署了一份谅解备忘录，以协助管理首都的供水和污水处理。

以色列与约旦边境附近的马萨达基布兹附近，Mekorot公司正在建设一条从以色列向约旦输送水的管道系统。[图片：Menahem Kahana/AFP]

对于在利马索尔从事酒店业的达娜·劳来说，这些水交易越过了底线。

“看到这种情况令人恐惧，但与此同时，我们却无能为力，”她说。

如今对巴勒斯坦的占领，部分原因在于控制了关键资源。“我看到同样的事情正在这里发生，”她说。

巴勒斯坦人对梅科罗特很熟悉。

在被占领的西岸，该公司被列入联合国与以色列非法定居点有关联的企业名单。

瑞典裔巴勒斯坦环保倡导者纳吉拉·阿卜杜勒拉蒂夫·瓦兰德 (Najla Abdellatif Vallander) 创立了“巴勒斯坦零废弃物”组织，她一直关注着 Mekorot 在巴勒斯坦和国外的活动，并告诉半岛电视台，该公司在西岸的运营类似于“偷水”，将巴勒斯坦的水源转移到以色列的非法定居点。

她说：“以色列定居者可以享用几乎无限量的水，而巴勒斯坦人却不被允许使用自己的水源。”

巴勒斯坦人“必须从水务公司Mekorot购买自己的水源”，而且大多被禁止挖掘自己的水井。“这简直就是水资源种族隔离，”她说。

截至发稿时，Mekorot 尚未回复半岛电视台的置评请求。

在尼科西亚，活动人士举着塞浦路斯和巴勒斯坦的旗帜游行，声援巴勒斯坦人。[图片：Alex Mita/法新社]

以色列的经济影响力增长迅速。

根据塞浦路斯中央银行的数据，截至 2024 年底，以色列投资者在塞浦路斯的投资额为 51 亿欧元（57 亿美元），是 2017 年的六倍多。

实际数字可能更高，因为该数据不包括居住在塞浦路斯或其他地方的以色列人，并且可能遗漏了通过所有者难以追踪的公司转移的资金。

据《塞浦路斯邮报》和以色列商业日报《环球报》本月报道，特拉维夫证券交易所也在考虑竞购塞浦路斯证券交易所，该交易所目前正处于政府私有化进程中。

据塞浦路斯邮报报道，一位接近塞浦路斯财政部的消息人士称，塞浦路斯交易所获得欧盟许可证将使以色列“更容易进入欧元区市场”。

健康是最新出现的领域。

以色列医院集团在欧洲的第一家医疗中心——利马索尔哈达萨医疗中心于7月开始接诊病人，并于周四正式开业。

该机构的成立得到了以色列哈达萨管理机构的批准，其中包括美国哈达萨妇女犹太复国主义组织。

根据以色列新地中海能源公司向特拉维夫证券交易所提交的文件，该公司拥有近海阿芙罗狄蒂气田 30% 的股份。

两国政府还在就该油田进行谈判，以色列称该油田延伸至其水域。

以色列阿什杜德的一枚以色列航空工业公司（IAI）生产的BARAK-MX防空导弹发射车 [图片：Amir Cohen/路透社]

以色列也一直在展示其军事实力。

据以色列国家安全研究所称，以色列特种部队曾在塞浦路斯的特罗多斯山脉进行训练，该地区的地形与黎巴嫩南部相似。

据《耶路撒冷邮报》报道，2022年，两国军队举行了迄今为止规模最大的联合演习，模拟与真主党的战争。

塞浦路斯正在用以色列航空航天工业公司制造的巴拉克MX防空系统替换其俄罗斯制造的防空系统，预计将于2024年底开始交付。

以色列自诩为抵御土耳其的守护者。

1974年7月，在希腊军政府的支持下，塞浦路斯发生政变，土耳其随后入侵该岛，并一直占领其北部地区至今。只有土耳其及其土耳其族塞人领导层承认北塞浦路斯。

以色列军方表示，2025年12月下旬，以色列和塞浦路斯军方官员签署了一项2026年合作计划，涵盖联合演习、训练和“战略军事对话”。

周二，亲以色列倡导组织“以色列盟友基金会”（IAF）在尼科西亚成立了一个由来自三个政党的六名塞浦路斯议员组成的党团。据《塞浦路斯邮报》报道，该党团主席乔什·雷恩斯坦在周三于总统府与塞浦路斯总统会面后告诉记者，土耳其是“共同的敌人”。

据《塞浦路斯邮报》报道，反对党阿克尔称此举“极具挑衅性”，并质问塞浦路斯一方面要求向土耳其施压，一方面又支持“另一个占领和殖民国家”，这种做法有何可信度。

上个月，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡在联合国大会上表示，土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安“非法占领了欧盟成员国北塞浦路斯”。

达娜·劳在利马索尔 [尼尔斯·阿德勒/半岛电视台]

利马索尔的作家伊奥安娜·兰普鲁说，内塔尼亚胡“知道自己在做什么”。

她说，那些觉得世界已经忘记了占领的塞浦路斯人“因此会更加同情以色列和内塔尼亚胡政府”，但他们“不明白西岸正在发生的事情也是非法占领”。

劳乌理解政府的理由；她说，从政府的角度来看，“塞浦路斯无法保护自己免受任何伤害。”

土耳其塞浦路斯研究员兼环境社会科学家塞兰·哈桑表示，英国人也用同样的方式赢得了塞浦路斯人的支持，那就是承诺保护他们免受更大的威胁。

以色列正在做“殖民主义的惯用伎俩，制造问题，然后成为问题的解决方案，并且永远不会放手”。

1902年，政治犹太复国主义创始人西奥多·赫茨尔向英国议会委员会提交了一份小册子，提出在塞浦路斯建立犹太家园的想法。他提交的小册子标题为：《通过进一步推进塞浦路斯的犹太人殖民化来解决犹太人移民英国和美国的问题》。

据赫茨尔的日记记载，英国殖民大臣拒绝了这一提议，称那里居住着希腊人和穆斯林。

赫茨尔沉思道：“希腊人很乐意以好价钱出售他们的土地，然后移居雅典或克里特岛。”

自从加沙种族灭绝战争开始以来，阿赫尼奥蒂斯对那段历史有了更多的思考。

看到巴勒斯坦人正在遭受的苦难，他说：“我认为这种事可能发生在任何人身上。”

他说，由于这场攻势来得如此轻易，而且得到了美国和欧洲政府的默许，“你会感到一种不安全感”。“他们为什么要尊重你？”