Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a joint press conference in Jerusalem today with President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Bennett met earlier with both leaders separately. Anastasiades and Mitsotakis also met today with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.

Bennett stated at the presser, “We are three vibrant democracies bound by close geographical proximity. We are neighbors. And today we come together with one vision: to embrace the future and the opportunity that it holds for our peoples, our countries and our region. At the same time, we also recognize the threats in our complex region that are causes of joint concern. The concern for our climate, concern for the health and livelihoods of our people and the concern of our security in the face of terror. … Together we are stronger, and our meeting today is testimony of that.”

Bennett praised the three countries' efficient collaboration on the East-Med energy connection, the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and in many other areas. He said, “We are expanding our ties in fields of security, economy, technology, tourism. … Just last month I had the privilege of meeting the commanders of your air forces. They came to Israel to strengthen international military cooperation and to promote regional stability. So our countries are cooperating in air, with our energy projects our countries are cooperating at sea, and here today we can also say that we are cooperating on the ground. This trilateral alliance between Israel, Cyprus and Greece is good for our peoples, good for our countries and good for the region.”

Bennett seemed to reassure his counterparts that the trilateral alliance nurtured by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is just as important to his own government. The Cypriot president also expressed satisfaction with the trilateral cooperation retaining momentum. “This is the eighth trilateral summit taking place, and the first one with Prime Minister Bennett,” he noted.