Not just beach vacations: Why Cyprus is a critical strategic asset for Israel
From POW camps to the gas and security alliance: How Cyprus became Israel’s most important strategic asset in the Mediterranean, and how Turkey is gradually being pushed into a corner
For the average Israeli, Cyprus is synonymous with a quick getaway, golden beaches and all-inclusive hotels less than an hour’s flight away. But beneath the island’s well-oiled tourist veneer, Israel’s neighbor has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years: from the focal point of a frozen ethnic conflict, it has become one of the most important strategic assets of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the State of Israel in the Mediterranean basin. The relationship between the two countries, which began even before Israel’s founding, has become a fateful partnership affecting security, energy, and even the way Israelis get married.
The shared story of Cyprus and Israel goes back thousands of years. As early as the period of early Christianity, the island served as a critical bridge between the Land of Israel and Europe. As early as the first century CE, the apostles Paul and Barnabas visited it, turning it into one of the first Christian centers outside Israel. Over the generations, the island passed from hand to hand — from the Byzantines and the Crusaders to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled it for centuries.
But the most formative chapter for the Israeli public took place between 1946 and 1949. Cyprus, then a British Crown colony, served as a major detention point for some 53,000 Holocaust survivors who sought to reach the Land of Israel and were intercepted by the British Navy. The detention camps on the island became the last, difficult stop on the survivors' perilous journey home. This historic bond of blood laid the foundations for the complex relationship that followed after the island gained independence in 1960.
The island frozen in time: The bleeding wound of the 1974 war
The island’s modern turning point began in 1960, when it gained independence from Britain. Relations with Israel saw ups and downs, mainly because of Jerusalem’s attempts to draw closer to Turkey, Cyprus’s bitter rival. In 1974, following an attempted coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece, Turkey invaded northern Cyprus. Since then, the island has remained divided: in the south lies the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, and in the north the occupying “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” recognized only by Ankara.
A “Green Line,” a buffer zone administered by the UN, separates the two parts. Turkish Cypriots are structurally dependent on Turkey, and use the language of the “motherland” and the “baby homeland” quite literally. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, Turkey maintains some 40,000 troops in the north, a presence that creates constant tension with the European Union and Israel.
From the Mavi Marmara to the “blue gold” alliance
Until 2010, relations between Israel and Cyprus saw intelligence crises, such as the arrest in Nicosia in 1991 of Ram Ben-Barak — later deputy head of the Mossad and today a Yesh Atid lawmaker — during an operation to plant listening devices at the Iranian Embassy in Nicosia. But the events of the Gaza flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, in 2010 changed everything. As relations with Turkey deteriorated, Israel found in Cyprus a strategic partner. The discovery of natural gas fields in the shared economic waters created a close alliance. The EastMed agreement to build a gas pipeline to Europe, and the EuroAsia Interconnector project — an undersea electricity cable that would connect Israel’s power grid to the continent — turned Cyprus into a strategic partner of Israel.
But the alliance is not only economic; it is also military and intelligence-based. Over the years, Cyprus became an arena of “quiet war.” In recent years, the Mossad has thwarted several attacks on Cypriot soil by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards against Israeli businesspeople and tourists, while Iranian terrorism has made troubling use of northern Cyprus as an operational base. The IDF has in the past held a series of extensive drills in the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus, in cooperation with the Cypriot National Guard. The drills were meant to simulate combat deep inside enemy territory, with an emphasis on the Lebanese theater, and included navigation through difficult mountainous terrain, dealing with underground environments, and helicopter-assisted raids.
March 2026: When Cyprus became a front against Iran and Hezbollah
Security tensions reached a new peak during the “Swords of Iron” war. In June 2024, Nasrallah directly threatened Cyprus, claiming that if it allowed Israel to use its infrastructure for the war, Hezbollah would treat it as “part of the war” and strike it. At the outbreak of Operation “Lion’s Roar,” an Iranian Shahed drone penetrated and hit the runway at the British Royal Air Force base RAF Akrotiri in southern Cyprus, which, according to reports, was housing American spy planes at the time. The incident illustrated that Cyprus is now an active front in the Israeli-Iranian conflict, and there are now calls of opposition from residents to the presence of the bases on the island, as well as demands that the British leave.
In response to the growing threats to Cyprus, Greece and other European countries sent military assets to the area. In addition, the United States increased its presence on the island and even asked to establish a joint operational center there to coordinate air defense. Ankara, for its part, reacted furiously and deployed defense systems in the north of the island. This tension makes Cyprus Europe’s point of vulnerability and strength — at the same time.
Israel’s civilian refuge and strategic depth
Despite the geopolitical and military drama, Cyprus remains a unique civilian refuge for Israelis. Beyond tourism, which broke records after the crisis with Turkey, the island became the main destination for civil marriages. Every year, around a thousand Israeli couples marry on the island — a certain decline from around 1,500 couples in the past, due to the introduction of online “Utah marriages,” which make it possible to marry over a video call from one’s living room. Nevertheless, for most Israelis who choose the civil route, the geographic proximity and convenient legislation make the island the most accessible solution for those who cannot, or do not want to, marry through the Rabbinate.
This connection between the people of Israel and the people of Cyprus is sometimes stronger than political fluctuations. A living example of this was seen on the Eurovision 2026 stage: while Cyprus’s professional juries gave Israel a round zero points, the Cypriot public at home voted en masse and awarded the Israeli representative eight points. Perhaps this is the whole story — beyond the interests of governments, there is a deep human connection to the neighbor across the sea.
Cyprus is now Israel’s “strategic depth” in the fullest sense of the term. What was once merely a vacation destination has become a NATO fortress and a fateful ally. Military, energy and civilian cooperation turns the small island into a key player in the stability of the Middle East as a whole. As the region continues to burn, Israel’s eyes will remain fixed on the neighboring island, which, a short flight away, offers Jerusalem far more than just beach and sea — it offers a fateful partnership.