Cyprus: Netanyahu’s New Haifa

October 25, 2025 TheMcgwire

Cyprus: Netanyahu’s New Haifa

An influx of Israeli settlers and investors into Cyprus has raised alarms among Cypriots and regional observers who see echoes of Haifa’s past in Larnaca’s present. Beneath the real estate surge lies a deeper Israeli project to reshape the Eastern Mediterranean order – one in which Cyprus is both gateway and outpost.

Last year, reports multiplied of Israelis purchasing land and property across the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member. Though the numbers remain modest, the pace of acquisitions has quickened. Some interpret this wave as a symptom of Israel’s fading self-image as “the safest place for Jews.”

Others see it as a byproduct of the shifting geopolitical architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean, in which Cyprus occupies a critical node of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expanding maritime vision.

The New Frontier

Cyprus, the Mediterranean’s third-largest island, has been divided since Turkiye’s 1974 invasion of the north, which established the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). About 400,000 Turkish Cypriots inhabit that section under Ankara’s patronage, while the internationally recognized southern Greek Cypriot Republic – home to 1.3 million people – now finds its coastline increasingly dotted with Israeli-owned real estate.

Statistics alone obscure the larger pattern. According to the Cyprus Audit Authority, non-European buyers over the past five years have come primarily from Lebanon (16 percent), China (16 percent), Russia (14 percent), and Israel (10 percent).

Meanwhile, the Jewish community in Cyprus, around 4,000 families – roughly 15,000 people – has expanded from just a few hundred two decades ago. In 2003, there were between 300 and 400 people, rising to around 3,500 in 2018, a modest but symbolically potent growth spurred by three crises: COVID-19, Israel’s judicial reform turmoil, and the war on Gaza.

Yet, this migration wave reflects a broader reversal: a rising number of Israelis leaving the country. The Knesset Research and Information Center reported that some 145,900 people emigrated between 2020 and 2024 – a trend Yedioth Ahronoth linked to the aftermath of 7 October, warning of “strategic risks.”

🔗SOURCE ➡️ The Cradle

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