Election posters, mass tourism and property: Israel’s footprint in Cyprus

Various locations, Cyprus – This summertime successful Cyprus, connected a roadworthy adjacent Larnaca airport, a billboard greeted holidaymakers successful Hebrew: “Israelis, enjoy! Now travel backmost and win!”

It was an predetermination poster successful the Cypriot metropolis for Israel’s October 27 vote featuring Israel’s erstwhile service main and person of the absorption Yashar Party, Gadi Eisenkot.

The poster of Eisenkot, believed to beryllium the archetypal clip a overseas person had campaigned connected billboards successful Cyprus, signalled the increasing fig of Israelis surviving connected and visiting the island, TV presenter and pro-Palestine activistic Melanie Steliou told Al Jazeera.

“Israel is lone 40 minutes distant by plane; they tin popular over, vote, and travel backmost wrong the day,” she said.

Israel does not let astir citizens surviving overseas to ballot extracurricular the country, truthful campaigns tribunal those who tin alert location connected polling day.

The poster demonstrates however Israeli politicians spot Cyprus arsenic “just different territory of Israel”, Steliou said.

Israeli governmental power is besides being felt successful Cyprus’s parliament. On October 20, six Cypriot lawmakers formed a pro-Israel caucus, launched by the advocacy radical Israel Allies Foundation, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Cyprus has absorbed waves of overseas buyers before. Limassol was erstwhile nicknamed “Limassolgrad” for its Russian community.

Theodosis Pipis, a Cypriot historiographer and expert with the deliberation vessel KEDISA, said that with Russian concern successful the aboriginal 2010s, “you saw large buildings popular up” arsenic companies moved implicit but “you ne'er truly saw a immense influx of buying houses, gathering schools, creating communities.”

Waves of overseas wealth earlier had not shaped the island’s governmental clime oregon brought overseas predetermination campaigns with it, helium said. Israeli investment, by contrast, is creating “a consciousness of assemblage for the future”, helium explained.

Israelis made astir 600,000 trips to Cyprus past year, much than treble the 2022 figure, according to the Cyprus Statistical Service (CYSTAT). In August, astir 1 successful 4 tourists arriving connected the land was Israeli, a 28.4 percent summation from 2025, according to CYSTAT, with immoderate buying homes. 

In the 12 months to September 2025, Israelis made 850 spot purchases successful Larnaca district, much than immoderate different overseas nationality, according to Ministry of Interior data. Israel’s embassy successful Nicosia estimates that 15,000 to 20,000 see the land home, Cypriot quality outlet Philenews reported successful August. According to the past census successful 2021, somewhat much than 1,000 Israelis lived successful oregon were registered successful Cyprus.

Venetians, Ottomans and the British each held the land earlier independency successful 1960. It has been divided since Turkiye’s 1974 invasion, which followed a coup backed by the subject authorities successful Athens.

More recently, British retirees, Russian superior and golden-passport buyers person poured wealth into its spot market.

But the speed, standard and quality of caller Israeli investments, to an land wherever walls are covered successful pro-Palestine murals and graffiti amid the genocide successful Gaza, person caught the attraction of many.

Investment from Israel roseate much than sixfold betwixt 2017 and 2024, to 5.1 cardinal euros ($5.9bn), according to the Central Bank of Cyprus, adjacent arsenic full overseas concern successful the state fell by a 4th betwixt 2022 and 2024 and Russian holdings, overmuch of it wealth simply routed done Cypriot holding companies, shrank by much than a third.

Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, an subordinate prof successful transitional justness and quality rights astatine the University of Central Lancashire successful Cyprus, told Al Jazeera that British and Lebanese buying “wasn’t thing that made waves” and “came astir naturally”. The Israeli push, by contrast, “was a much abrupt development”.

That timing matters, Hadjigeorgiou said. Israel’s authorities keeps receiving “a batch of screen and a batch of support” from Nicosia astatine a clip erstwhile Israel “is doing unspeakable things” successful the Palestinian enclave, “and that makes astatine slightest a information of the colonisation uncomfortable.”

Island tensions

Steliou pulled retired her telephone and showed 1 video – footage of a idiosyncratic who had been eating astatine an Israeli-owned edifice attempting to onslaught protesters astatine a pro-Palestine march successful Cyprus. Then different – an Israeli antheral penning expletives, drafting a intersexual organ and spitting connected a mural honouring Gaza’s children.

Such events hap often, she said.

Amid Israel’s wars connected Gaza and Lebanon, locals interviewed by Al Jazeera said the beingness of Israelis who had served successful the subject was hard to bear.

“I consciousness my bosom descend erstwhile I perceive and spot ample groups of Israeli men here, knowing that they person served successful the subject and tin perpetrate genocide and past bargain property,” Giorgos Kyrou, a 32-year-old creator from Limassol, said.

Others blamed the government.

“Our politicians are compromised,” said Ioannis Nestoras, a potter who lives successful Limassol. “They are consenting to hug, to embrace, to dainty arsenic friends the Israeli authorities … I don’t deliberation it’s typical of the Cypriot mentality.”

Actress and pro-Palestine activistic Melanie Steliou is among a radical of Cypriots who consciousness uneasy astir Israel’s increasing power [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

Outside the NYX Hotel Limassol, owned by Fattal, Israel’s largest edifice group, Steliou said Israeli concern appears centred connected residential zones, including alleged “gated communities”.

Politicians, property agents, academics and residents successful Cyprus usage the operation to picture clusters of Israeli-owned properties they spot arsenic closed disconnected from the wider community.

No authoritative number exists, and owners’ nationalities are not recorded for purchases done Cypriot companies.

But patterns are visible. Israeli companies person bought astir of the coastline betwixt Livadia and Pyla, adjacent Larnaca, to physique homes and hotels, the Cypriot fiscal quality tract Stockwatch reported past year.

Stockwatch besides reported that Israeli investors are promoting the largest organised residential improvement successful Cyprus successful Dromolaxia-Meneou, adjacent Larnaca, with its ain kindergarten, swimming pools, and backstage park.

Other Cypriots stock Steliou’s concerns.

Kyrou said Israeli investments tin absorption connected a peculiar country and that “sometimes it feels similar the locals are being pushed retired of those villages oregon municipality centres”.

As a historian, Pipis said helium understood fears that Israel’s concern of Palestine could beryllium repeated, though helium did not expect that successful Cyprus. Instead, helium believes a foothold successful a affable EU subordinate authorities “offers a definite information if things escalate much successful the Middle East”.

“You don’t bargain these amounts of onshore preparing to make communities with schools … if you’re not readying to enactment determination for the agelong term,” helium said.

In Polemidia, connected the borderline of Limassol, the Yael Foundation is backing a “flagship Jewish school” for up to 1,500 pupils, owed to unfastened successful 2027. Cyprus has galore backstage and planetary schools serving overseas communities.

Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, who leads the project, has described this 1 arsenic a “Zionist school”.

Critics besides constituent to a signifier of gathering archetypal and seeking support later.

In February 2025, Cyprus’s Ministry of Education said that nary exertion had been submitted for the school, and arsenic precocious arsenic October that year, the Ministry of Finance said the exertion was inactive being finalised, the Cypriot regular Kathimerini reported. Polemidia’s municipality, which complained it was not consulted, had itself been refused support to physique a athletics centre connected the aforesaid plot, the paper said.

The ministry did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions.

In summation to schools, different infrastructure catering to Israelis has popped up.

Hadassah, 1 of the biggest infirmary groups successful Israel, owned by the US radical “Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America”, opened its archetypal European aesculapian centre successful Limassol successful July.

“Specific areas are being bought en masse”, Stefanos Stefanou, person of the left-wing Cypriot AKEL Party, said successful June 2025. Purchases successful Larnaca and Limassol were creating gated communities “almost inaccessible to anyone different than Israeli nationals”, helium said, adding that Israel is preparing a “backyard” successful Cyprus.

“We bash not accidental this due to the fact that of xenophobia oregon anti-Semitism,” helium aboriginal said.

Israel’s erstwhile Ambassador to Cyprus Oren Anolik deed back, saying Stefanou’s comments sought to “single retired the Jewish assemblage successful Cyprus”.

Hadjigeorgiou said determination was apt “some exaggeration successful narration to immoderate of the examples” of closed-off areas, but that immoderate were “very intelligibly gated communities”.

Speaking arsenic a lawyer, she said Cyprus’s constitution and the European Convention connected Human Rights prohibit favoritism connected grounds including ethnicity, nationality and religion and that a improvement wherever lone Israelis tin bargain “is unconstitutional”.

The NYX Hotel Limassol, Limassol, Cyprus [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

In occidental Cyprus, Uriel Kertesz, a businessman with Hungarian and Israeli citizenship, bought an estimated 70 to 80 percent of the abandoned colony of Trozena and its surrounding farmland, which lies successful a protected area. Yiannis Pazouros, a writer astatine the Cypriot regular Politis who investigated the purchases and met Kertesz, said buying arsenic an EU national freed him from limits connected non-EU buyers.

Kertesz paid treble oregon triple the marketplace worth and pushed up without the permits needed successful a protected area, Pazouros said. Al Jazeera cannot independently corroborate this.

Despite nationalist fears that the colony could beryllium closed off, Kertesz has stayed tight-lipped astir his plans, helium added.

A stencil of a kid slumped beneath the connection ‘Gaza’, painted to lucifer blood, successful Limassol [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

Criticism of Israel is acold from uncommon successful Cyprus, peculiarly successful airy of Israel’s genocidal warfare connected Gaza.

Recently, connected an October evening, Mike Kroll, an Israeli-American comedian based successful Tel Aviv, played astatine a drama festival successful Limassol.

It initially caused “apprehension” due to the fact that of Israel’s image, helium said.

He felt “fine” with radical criticising Israel due to the fact that helium was treated with respect and had engaged successful “deep discussions”.

A antheral walks past graffiti successful Larnaca, Cyprus, speechmaking ‘Zionists not welcome’ [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

However, his absorption has not been not universal.

Across Cyprus, pro-Palestinian slogans crook nationalist spaces into expressions of solidarity. Some are much nonstop successful their meaning: “Zionists not welcome” reads graffiti successful Larnaca.

In August 2025, aft Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli complained to Cypriot ministers, the Interior Ministry ordered municipalities to region what it called hate-inciting graffiti.

In Limassol, crews removed it with uncharacteristic efficiency, sometimes earlier 6am, Nestoras said. The politician initially tried to support it arsenic governmental look but was overruled, fuelling suspicion the bid came from “higher-ups”.

The Interior Ministry did not respond to Al Jazeera’s petition for comment.

For Cypriots, Hadjigeorgiou said, the changes transportation peculiar weight.

“We are a colonisation that has been displaced from our homes successful what the authorities loudly and intelligibly describes arsenic taste cleansing. And astatine the aforesaid time, we are allowing different radical to bash the aforesaid happening successful the areas that the Republic of Cyprus controls.”