MONTREAL — Israel and Greece plan to hold government-to-government talks in June with an eye toward concrete, co-operative bilateral agreements, Israeli ambassador to Canada Miriam Ziv announced at an April 4 conference on Greek-Israeli relations.
Miriam Ziv
The “evolving and blossoming relationship” is a sign of how “truly special” it has become, she said.
“Our recently enhanced co-operation has shown immense potential in many fields, including agriculture and water management, energy, renewable energy, tourism and security.
“As countries dedicated to human rights and democracy, Israel and Greece are natural allies,” Ziv continued.
“Israel and Greece are great partners in the quest for peace given their governments’ common interest – promoting democratic ideals and bringing about greater stability in the Middle East.”
Ziv made her remarks at a conference on Emerging Hellenic-Israeli Relations at the Hellenic Community Centre.
The event was described as “groundbreaking” by its organizers, the Canadian branch of AHEPA (American Hellenic Progressive Association), the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC), the Canadian Hellenic Congress and the Quebec Jewish Congress (QJC).
Besides looking for areas of bilateral economic co-operation, the conference reaffirmed warm, historic ties between the Jewish and Hellenic communities in Montreal and Canada, and between its peoples going back centuries.
That included the Jews of Salonika, 54,000 Sephardi Jews who flourished in Greece and were murdered by the Nazis.
Locally, the relationship dates back to the 1995 sovereignty referendum and even further, noted conference chair Jack Jedwab of the Association for Canadian Studies, who was director of the QJC, Quebec region during that period.
Despite having a long-standing strategic relationship, at the diplomatic level Israel and Greece historically had strained ties due to Israel’s perception that Greece sympathizes with the Arabs in the conflict with Israel. Greece has recognized Israel since partition and had a diplomatic presence there since the late 1940s, but did not open an embassy until 1990.
Israel also believed that the late Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who died in 1996, supported the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The Greek-Israeli relationship began to improve in the mid-1990s following the death of prime minister Papendreou, and grew markedly better only a year ago, after Israel’s May 2010 flotilla raid that soured its relationship with a longtime ally, Turkey, which harshly condemned Israel’s actions. Historically, Greece and Turkey have had an often volatile and hostile relationship.
In July, 2010, Greek prime minister George Papendreou (Andreas’ son) paid an official visit to Israel, and two months after that Benjamin Netanyahu reciprocated, becoming the first Israeli prime minister to do so. In January 2011, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also went to Greece to discuss common security concerns, including terrorism.
At the conference, attended by diplomats, community figures and parliamentarians of both Jewish and Greek heritage – including Greek ambassador to Canada, Eleftherios Anghelopolous; Liberal MP Irwin Cotler; Jewish Tory senator Judith Seidman, and Tory senators Leo Housakos and Pana Merchant, both of Greek heritage – participants extolled the “renewed relationship” between Israel and Greece, in the words of CIC head Sara Saber-Freedman.
It is a “solid and important relationship,” she said. Aghelopolous, for his part, felt that the increase in bilateral co-operation, “is not coincidental and not directed against any other state or people in the region. Instead, it has added value to regional security because it is resolutely focused on the values of peace, development and co-operation.”
Also celebrated at the conference was the relationship between the Jewish and Greek people going back centuries, a relationship of shared values and openness and common desire to fight prejudice and discrimination.
“We must work together and must stay vigilant…to work in areas of common concern,” Housakos said.
Others delivering remarks included Federation CJA immediate past president Marc Gold; AHEPA Canada president Nick Aroutzidis; Canadian Hellenic Congress president George Manolikakis and Thanos Kafopoulos, Greece’s consul general in Montreal.
The event also included two panel discussions that covered the history of Greece’s Jews and the Greek-Israeli relationship. Participants included Amikam Nachmani, chair of Bar-Ilan University’s political science department; McGill University political science professor Harold Waller and Ken Matziorinis of the School of Continuing Studies at McGill University.
