Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced Israel’s determination to become Europe’s major energy supplier. Speaking in Thessaloniki, Greece, at his third trilateral summit with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Netanyahu promoted an ambitious 1,350-mile undersea natural gas pipeline project, to compete with Europe’s other major energy supplier, Vladimir Putin.
Citing the Jewish roots in the city of Thessaloniki, Netanyahu suggested the historic connection of Israel, Greece and Cyprus— Athens and Jerusalem, as he put it—provide “the foundations of our common values, the values of human freedom, freedom of inquiry, equal rights. These are all conceptions that were bred in the meeting ground – the faith in God that all people are created in the image of God and deserve the same rights.”
Which may not be an accurate depiction of the values of the Greek mythology, but, hey, the PM was not really discussing theology, he was talking business:
“As far as the present is concerned,” Netanyahu stepped over the obvious historical hurdles (the son of a professor of History that he is), “It amazed me that having had this past, we didn’t have a relationship in the present. We did, but it was very cool and removed and I thought that it had to change because there’s a simple fact about Cyprus, Greece and Israel that brings us very close together. We’re all democracies, real democracies. And when you look in the present in our region, especially looking eastward and some other directions as well, that’s not a very common commodity.”
OK, also something the late Professor Netanyahu might have frowned on, what with the military dictatorship in Greece from 1967 to 1974, and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus – but never mind historical and theological inaccuracies, PM Netanyahu is all about the future, and business:
“Looking into the future,” Netanyahu summarized for the benefit of the press, his first concern “is energy […] idea of the EastMed pipeline, which would be a revolution. We’ve had preliminary studies of it. It seems promising, and we’re going to look further into it, but it would connect our three countries and Italy. It’s something we’re very excited about.”
Netanyahu met with Tsipras and Anastasiades as a follow-up to a joint declaration the three countries had signed in Tel Aviv in April to promote construction of the EastMed pipeline. In addition, Greece and Israel are planning an undersea electricity cable link and a Mediterranean data cable.