Greece–Israel relations

The Israel-Hellenic Forum will hold its first gathering between November 12-14 in Jerusalem.

The agreement between Greece and the United States on defense cooperation, providing for the deployment of US military bases on Greek territory, will be open-ended.

The current agreement is being extended annually.

Cyprus' energy minister says a consortium composed of energy companies Total of France and Eni of Italy has been licensed to explore for natural gas deposits in another area off Cyprus' southern coast.

Georgios Lakkotrypis says the two companies have an equal share in a new block into which a gas deposit that Eni discovered in an adjacent block last year is believed to extend.

The International Criminal Court on Sept. 2 ordered the tribunal's prosecutor for a second time to reconsider whether to press charges over a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza in 2010.

Cyprus is aiming to have infrastructure in place to generate electricity using natural gas by the end of 2021.

Natural Gas Public Company Chairman Symeon Kassianides said Tuesday that Cyprus' Electricity Authority and three other licensed companies would generate power using gas.

Cyprus has licensed a consortium made up of France's Total and Italy's Eni to search for hydrocarbons in another area that the east Mediterranean island nation has exclusive economic rights, the country's energy minister said Tuesday.

Following a five-year stint in Athens, Israeli Ambassador Irit Ben-Abba returns home leaving bilateral relations at an unprecedented level. In this interview with Kathimerini ahead of her return to Jerusalem, from where she plans to keep monitoring developments "from not so far away," Ben-Abba expresses her attachment to Greece and its people.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris was honored on Tuesday by Greece with one of the country's most prestigious awards, the Order of the Phoenix, for his critical contribution to strengthening relations among Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the US.

The recent and extremely significant development in the US Senate concerning Greece and Cyprus' future role in Washington's plans for the Eastern Mediterranean stems from the initiatives of the Hellenic diaspora, and also from the strengthening of Greek-Israeli relations over the past decade.

For the first time in 25 years, Crete suffered a blackout on 22 March following an explosion to an old transformer which plunged the Greek island into darkness and made it vulnerable to future power outages.