This summer in Cyprus, on a road near Larnaca airport, a billboard greeted holidaymakers in Hebrew: “Israelis, enjoy! Now come back and win!”
asserted
billboard → greet → Hebrew
It was an election poster in the Cypriot city for Israel’s October 27 vote featuring Israel’s former army chief and leader of the opposition Yashar Party, Gadi Eisenkot.
asserted
It → feature → Party
The poster of Eisenkot, believed to be the first time a foreign politician had campaigned on billboards in Cyprus, signalled the growing number of Israelis living on and visiting the island, TV presenter and pro-Palestine activist Melanie Steliou told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Steliou → believe → Jazeera
“Israel is only 40 minutes away by plane; they can pop over, vote, and come back within the day,” she said.
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she → pop → day
Israel does not allow most citizens living abroad to vote outside the country, so campaigns court those who can fly home on polling day.
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who → allow → day
The poster demonstrates how Israeli politicians see Cyprus as “just another district of Israel”, Steliou said.
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Steliou → demonstrate → Israel
Israeli political influence is also being felt in Cyprus’s parliament.
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influence → feel → parliament
On October 20, six Cypriot lawmakers formed a pro-Israel caucus, launched by the advocacy group Israel Allies Foundation, The Jerusalem Post reported.
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Post → form → group
Cyprus has absorbed waves of foreign buyers before.
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Cyprus → absorb → buyers
Limassol was once nicknamed “Limassolgrad” for its Russian community.
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Limassol → nickname → community
Theodosis Pipis, a Cypriot historian and analyst with the think tank KEDISA, said that with Russian investment in the early 2010s, “you saw big buildings pop up” as companies moved over but “you never really saw a huge influx of buying houses, building schools, creating communities.”
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you → say → communities
Waves of foreign money before had not shaped the island’s political climate or brought foreign election campaigns with it, he said.
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he → shape → it
Israeli investment, by contrast, is creating “a sense of community for the future”, he explained.
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he → create → future
Israelis made nearly 600,000 trips to Cyprus last year, more than double the 2022 figure, according to the Cyprus Statistical Service (CYSTAT).
uncertain
Israelis → make → Service
In August, nearly one in four tourists arriving on the island was Israeli, a 28.4 percent increase from 2025, according to CYSTAT, with some buying homes.
uncertain
some → arrive → homes
In the 12 months to September 2025, Israelis made 850 property purchases in Larnaca district, more than any other foreign nationality, according to Ministry of Interior data.
uncertain
Israelis → make → data
Israel’s embassy in Nicosia estimates that 15,000 to 20,000 consider the island home, Cypriot news outlet Philenews reported in August.
asserted
island → estimate → August
According to the last census in 2021, slightly more than 1,000 Israelis lived in or were registered in Cyprus.
uncertain
Israelis → accord → Cyprus
Venetians, Ottomans and the British all held the island before independence in 1960.
asserted
Venetians → hold → 1960
It has been divided since Turkiye’s 1974 invasion, which followed a coup backed by the military government in Athens.
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which → divide → Athens
More recently, British retirees, Russian capital and golden-passport buyers have poured money into its property market.
But the speed, scale and nature of new Israeli investments, to an island where walls are covered in pro-Palestine murals and graffiti amid the genocide in Gaza, have caught the attention of many.
asserted
walls → pour → many
Investment from Israel rose more than sixfold between 2017 and 2024, to 5.1 billion euros ($5.9bn), according to the Central Bank of Cyprus, even as total foreign investment in the country fell by a quarter between 2022 and 2024 and Russian holdings, much of it money simply routed through Cypriot holding companies, shrank by more than a third.
uncertain
much → rise → third
Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, an associate professor in transitional justice and human rights at the University of Central Lancashire in Cyprus, told Al Jazeera that British and Lebanese buying “wasn’t something that made waves” and “came almost naturally”.
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that → tell → waves
That timing matters, Hadjigeorgiou said.
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Hadjigeorgiou → matter → ?
Israel’s government keeps receiving “a lot of cover and a lot of support” from Nicosia at a time when Israel “is doing unspeakable things” in the Palestinian enclave, “and that makes at least a portion of the population uncomfortable.”
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portion → receive → population
Steliou pulled out her phone and showed one video – footage of a person who had been dining at an Israeli-owned restaurant attempting to attack protesters at a pro-Palestine march in Cyprus.
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who → pull → Cyprus
Such events occur often, she said.
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she → occur → ?
Amid Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon, locals interviewed by Al Jazeera said the presence of Israelis who had served in the military was hard to bear.
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who → interview → military
“I feel my heart sink when I hear and see large groups of Israeli men here, knowing that they have served in the military and can commit genocide and then buy property,” Giorgos Kyrou, a 32-year-old artist from Limassol, said.
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Kyrou → feel → Limassol
Others blamed the government.
asserted
Others → blame → government
“Our politicians are compromised,” said Ioannis Nestoras, a potter who lives in Limassol.
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who → compromise → Limassol
“They are willing to hug, to embrace, to treat as friends the Israeli government …
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They → hug → government
I don’t think it’s representative of the Cypriot mentality.”
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it → think → mentality
Outside the NYX Hotel Limassol, owned by Fattal, Israel’s largest hotel group, Steliou said Israeli investment appears centred on residential zones, including so-called “gated communities”.
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investment → own → communities
Politicians, estate agents, academics and residents in Cyprus use the phrase to describe clusters of Israeli-owned properties they see as closed off from the wider community.
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they → use → community
No official count exists, and owners’ nationalities are not recorded for purchases through Cypriot companies.
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nationalities → exist → companies
Israeli companies have bought most of the coastline between Livadia and Pyla, near Larnaca, to build homes and hotels, the Cypriot financial news site Stockwatch reported last year.
asserted
site → buy → homes
Stockwatch also reported that Israeli investors are promoting the largest organised residential development in Cyprus in Dromolaxia-Meneou, near Larnaca, with its own kindergarten, swimming pools, and private park.
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investors → report → kindergarten
Other Cypriots share Steliou’s concerns.
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Cypriots → share → concerns
Kyrou said Israeli investments can focus on a particular area and that “sometimes it feels like the locals are being pushed out of those villages or urban centres”.
asserted
locals → say → villages
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
