Greece seeking closer ties with Israel risks violating international law, analysts warn

By Serife Cetin

BRUSSELS (AA) – Analysts are sounding alarm bells over Greece’s policy of seeking closer ties with Israel, including its participation in a trilateral summit held in Israel on Monday.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Greek Cypriot Administration leader Nikos Christodoulides met at a trilateral summit in West Jerusalem.

The meeting placed strong emphasis on defense cooperation, while Netanyahu - increasingly isolated on the international stage - was widely seen as seeking closer ties with Mitsotakis.

Some analysts say Mitsotakis will be judged harshly by history for meeting Netanyahu, while others argue that he failed a moral and legal test by calling Israel “a democratic state.”

This April, Mitsotakis also visited Netanyahu, becoming the first European leader to meet him in Israel since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant over his alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Heidi Matthews, a faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University; Neve Gordon, Israeli-born professor at Queen Mary University of London; and Gentian Zyberi, an international law and human rights expert at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo, spoke to Anadolu about the leaders’ controversial meeting this week.

- Legal concerns

Matthews said Mitsotakis’ participation in the joint summit with Israel and the Greek Cypriot Administration signaled that Athens is willing to pursue its regional political interests “at the expense of compliance with international law.”

She said Greece already has “a history of complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” particularly by facilitating the shipment of military cargo and dual-use materials through Greek territorial waters and ports.

Matthews told how Greek lawyers formally challenged the government this week over the planned use of the Port of Heraklion by a vessel called Ocean Gladiator, alleging violations of the arms trade treaty.

She said the ship was carrying more than 1,600 tons of US-made ammunition destined for Israel, describing it as “one of the largest such shipments since Oct. 7, 2023,” the day Israel’s genocidal war began.

According to Matthews, the legal challenge appeared to have resulted in the vessel changing its intended route.

She added that Greece’s participation in the summit appeared to be emboldened by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which endorses US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza.

Matthews said both the plan and the resolution have been widely criticized for violating core principles of international law, including “the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.”

“Despite the so-called ceasefire, Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues,” Matthews said, adding that Resolution 2803 “has not changed the legal obligations of all states with respect to Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestine.”

Referring to rulings issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2024 and more recently, Matthews said the court had made clear that third states were legally obligated not to take actions that recognize the unlawful situation created by Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza.

In that context, she said Greece’s agreement to deepen cooperation with Israel in security, defense, and military matters, including maritime security, would violate its international legal obligations toward Palestine.

- Warnings over complicity and ICC obligations

“I think Prime Minister Mitsotakis is contributing to the dismantlement of the post-World War II legal order by visiting Prime Minister Netanyahu,” said Gordon, the Israeli-born scholar.

He noted that Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC and said world leaders should be seeking his arrest rather than honoring him.

“Mitsotakis is thus complicit in the violation of international law,” he added.

- Expectations from international law experts

Zyberi said there is one expectation for heads of state or government planning to visit Israel.

“The only comment I have for such visits from heads of governments of any country is for them to request that Israel complies with its international law obligations,” Zyberi said.

He said those obligations included respecting the cease-fire reached in October, allowing for the delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid - including medicines and tents - halting illegal settlements, and ending the unlawful occupation, as requested by the UN General Assembly last year.