(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)
President Isaac Herzog this afternoon (Sunday, 4 May 2025), held a diplomatic meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides of Cyprus, who arrived in Israel in a show of solidarity just hours after a missile attack by the Houthis.
President Herzog welcomed President Christodoulides and said, “I want to congratulate you, Mr. President, for being the first world leader to set foot in Israel, in Ben Gurion Airport, following the missile attack this morning by the Houthis. You are showing incredible friendship and solidarity, and we are grateful for that. We always remember our friends.”
He continued, “You know that we have excellent air and defense systems – but it is an example to the entire world community about the violation of all rules of international law by a terrorist organization of about 50,000 people, a small tribe in Yemen having ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and drones of an empire. This shows the empire of evil from Tehran how it heavily arms its proxies, influencing the cost of living, of travel, of everything. We have a common goal to make sure that stability and security are returned at once.
He continued, “I want to congratulate you, Mr. President on Cyprus assuming the presidency of the European Union. There are very important issues on the agenda between our nations and between Israel and the EU. I want to thank Cyprus for immediately coming to help us in fighting the wildfires last week and sending planes. Thank you very much. It shows how much we are connected together in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean.”
The President stressed, “I know Mr. President that you met with hostage families before you came here. I think it’s a very noble cause. There’s nothing more urgent on our agenda than bringing them back home. There has to be an international effort together with all the parties concerned. You know, there are the mediators, both Qatar and Egypt, who are doing major effort to mediate, but at the end, you have to have a party out there that is willing to accept it, and Hamas is always refusing to answer.”
President Christodoulides responded, “Let me start by congratulating you and the people of Israel for your Independence Day. Let me also express our solidarity for the recent wildfires – like Israel did in a number of cases, Cyprus forces were here next to the Israeli forces to deal with the wildfires, and using the example of the wildfires, but also the other challenges that we have in our region, let me repeat my very strong belief that only through regional cooperation based on a positive agenda, we can tackle the challenges we have to face every day. Cyprus is a reliable neighbor, working for more cooperation, not only to face the challenges, but also to take advantage of the great potential of our region, always for the benefit of our peoples.”
He concluding by stressing, “Before coming here, I met the families of hostages. It was a deeply moving experience. This is a purely humanitarian issue. This is not a political issue. This is not a geopolitical issue. And I want to repeat our clear position that the hostages must be must be released, and in this effort, be sure that Cyprus will do whatever is necessary in order to bring all hostages back.”
