What the Emerging Greco-Egyptian Alliance Means for Israel

Earlier this month, Greece and Egypt signed an agreement formally demarcating the border between their respective coastal waters—undoubtedly in response to a similar agreement concluded by Turkey and Libya last November. Most immediately, these efforts reflect Turkey’s attempt to lay claim to natural gas and oil in the parts of the eastern Mediterranean previously claimed by Greece. Ankara and Cairo, meanwhile, are backing competing sides of the Libyan civil war, and thus Athens and Cairo are eager to help one another against a common enemy. As Israel has good relations with Greece and Egypt, and all three—together with Cyprus and Jordan—are part of a regional consortium for sharing offshore energy resources, it naturally inclines toward the Greco-Egyptian side. Gallia Lindenstrauss and Ofir Winter explain: