Hundreds of demonstrators on Thursday afternoon booed Israeli president Isaac Herzog and shouted “killer go home” as he departed the presidential palace in Nicosia after a meeting there with President Nikos Christodoulides.
Herzog’s talks with Christodoulides focused on developments in Syria and broader regional issues, coinciding with the Cyprus-Egypt intergovernmental talks and a trilateral summit between Cyprus, Greece, and Egypt in Cairo the day before.
In a brief statement later in the day, the government spokesman said the two heads of state “exchanged views on current regional and international developments.”
The talks centred on the situation in Syria and possible ramifications for the eastern Mediterranean, “stressing at the same time the role of Cyprus as a force for stability and a bridge between the region and the European Union.”
Between 300 and 400 people had gathered near the palace to protest Herzog’s visit to Cyprus.
They held up banners declaring Herzog “unwelcome” and “persona non grata.” Other banners called on Christodoulides to “stop supporting genocide” – a reference to the events unfolding in Gaza where Israel launched an offensive in October 2023.
Other slogans included “No to imperialist wars”, “Free Palestine”, “Cyprus, Palestine, solidarity”, and “Long live the friendship of peoples”.
Organised by the Cyprus Peace Council, the protest drew members from several organisations, including opposition party Akel, youth movement Edon, and the PEO trade union. Civil society groups including United for Palestine, Genocide Free Cyprus and Kisa also attended.
The Cyprus Peace Council called Herzog’s visit “a huge provocation” to Cypriots, who face their own struggle against occupation, and to people fighting for peace and justice worldwide.
The group called for an end to what they termed “genocide against Palestinian people and military operations by the Israeli state”.
Security measures were heightened around the area, with police maintaining a heavy presence and several roads closed to traffic. Police helicopters buzzed in the skies over Nicosia for hours.
“Christodoulides and his government will be judged as collaborators to the fascistic and genocidal state of Israel, who stood on the wrong side of history,” actress Melanie Steliou told the crowd in her speech.
Actress Christina Christofia recited a poem by Palestinian poet and activist Refaat Alareer.
On December 6, 2023, Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, along with members of his family.
A smaller protest took place near the roundabout of Larnaca airport.
President of the Pancyprian Peace Council Tassos Costeas said “we are here to send the message that Cypriots do not reconcile themselves with this barbarity that is happening today in Gaza and which in our view is nothing more and nothing less than a systematic extermination of the Palestinian people.”
In October 2023 Herzog caused anger when he told a press conference in Israel: “the entire nation is responsible. This rhetoric of ‘unaware, uninvolved civilians,’ is not true. They could’ve resisted, they could’ve fought this evil regime that took over Gaza.”
He was referring to the Palestinian population in Gaza following the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
Palestinian health officials say the death toll in Gaza has topped 46,000.
Later, Herzog complained that his words had been ‘twisted’ and taken out of context by the International Court of Justice. Commenting on this, he said: “There are also innocent Palestinians in Gaza. I am deeply sorry for the tragedy they are going through.”
Photos have circulated of Herzog signing an artillery munition in a location near the Gaza Strip border.
Also on Thursday the president met foreign minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the palace.
The two discussed developments in Syria and regional issues, as well as the prospects for growing bilateral ties between Cyprus and the UAE.
They committed to their nations keeping “an open channel of communication”.
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