How much is "too much of a humanitarian cost"?

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Dear Member,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

The Greek PM visited Israel this week, providing full support to the country. At the same time, the Greeks seem divided on whose side they are on as to the conflict; slightly more are those siding with the Palestinians.

US forces use the Greek bases of Souda in Crete and Elefsina in Attica to station their support aircraft and host Special Operation Forces. At the same time, authorities in Greece seem worried that the Israel-Palestinian war could trigger “terrorist attacks” in the country.

Greek Justice has done nothing for 18 months to prosecute people about the wiretapping scandal. Yet, it prosecutes members of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy - ADAE, said ADAE president Christos Rammos, testifying to the European Parliament LIBE Committee. A report also revealed that action by the Top Court may have resulted in not unveiling the possible connection between the Greek government and the Predator.

What does “without too much of a humanitarian cost” mean?

Greece’s PM Mitsotakis offered unconditional support to Israel during his visit to the country. The visit, which had been suspended the previous week, took place on 23 October without being announced before.

The Israeli PM said (Opens in a new window) he appreciated the solidarity “that of your government and the Greek people, in this dark hour. It is a battle of civilization against barbarism. We are on the side of civilization, and we must all unite against Hamas, which is the Islamic State (ISIS)."

In this turn, the Greek PM said (Opens in a new window) his country, from the first moment, “defended and supported Israel's right to self-defense, according to International Law.” After emphasizing that Greece makes a clear distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people, he concluded: “We will continue to support you and hope that whatever happens must happen without too much (Opens in a new window) humanitarian cost.”

At a time when the state of Israel is escalating its attacks against the Palestinian people, with thousands killed or injured, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to Jerusalem and the meeting with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu is provocative and amounts to complicity in crime, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said in a press release (Opens in a new window) regarding Mitsotakis' visit to Israel.

Mitsotakis did not visit the Palestinian Occupied Territories, so he did not meet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. He only spoke with him on the phone (Opens in a new window) on Thursday, expressing his worry about the Gaza situation, reiterating that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that the lawful representative of the Palestinian people is the Palestinian Authority. He said Greece has always supported a two-state solution.

It is also interesting how the Greeks replied to the question of an Eteron organization poll: (Opens in a new window)“Regarding the war between Israelis and Palestinians, with which side do you feel closer?”

None 43.3%

With the Palestinians 28.5%

With the Israelis 22.1%

Only the 65+ are almost equally divided among the three answers.

The results of the ideological divide were:

70.8% of those self-defined as left-wingers side “with the Palestinians.” The right-wingers answered “with no side” 43.4%), although support for Israel among them is high at 36.1%. The center-right are those who side mostly with Israel - 46.1%.

How Greece is involved in the rising tensions in the Middle East

Big mobilization of US aircraft in the Air Base of Souda (Opens in a new window) on the island of Crete was reported after the USA requested Greece to use military facilities to park large American aircraft and host Special Operations Forces. The Souda Bay Naval and Air Base by Chania, Western Crete, is a significant naval base of the Hellenic Navy and NATO.

Dozens of military aircraft, transports, and flying tankers have been deployed to Souda 115 Combat Wing, with the Americans requesting a second air base from Greece for their aircraft, CNN Greece reported - or to cover possible evacuation of citizens from the war zone.

Indeed, the 112 Combat Wing in Elefsina air base, Attika, was approved for this reason by Americans who came to the spot from Germany. American forces based in Europe also have special forces, like marines. Would American marines also be moved to Elefsina air base? This is a central question in some reports (Opens in a new window).

Currently, two American aircraft carriers have been deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean. “Each aircraft carrier has over 70 aircraft on board - considerable firepower. Mr. Biden has also placed thousands of US troops on standby to move to the region if required,” the BBC reported, also asking the question: “How far would the US go to defend Israel? (Opens in a new window)”

By providing its bases, Greece is indirectly involved in the conflict. This inevitably creates a security ‘vacuum’ in the country, which is neighboring the Arab world.

Interestingly, Greek intelligence and security officials are reported (Opens in a new window) as worried that the recent events in Israel and Gaza might trigger violent events, including terrorist attacks, in the country.

“An eight-page classified document shown to Kathimerini describes the activities of four Palestinian organizations in Greece and of seven “persons of interest” with alleged ties to Hamas, which the EU, among others, considers a terrorist organization,” Kathimerini reported (Opens in a new window).

However, the newspaper clarified “that the locally active Palestinian organizations have done nothing illegal in Greece while supporting the cause of their homeland for over a decade if not more” - but then it reported that members of these organizations have shown approval for Hamas on social media and “have also forged ties with local anarchist groups.”

So, are ideas considered incriminating here?

We are afraid a local witch-hunting can start like this - and associate Muslim refugees with “terrorism.”

‘Greek Watergate’ - A testimony and a reportage

Greek Justice has done nothing for 18 months to prosecute people about the wiretapping scandal. Yet, it prosecutes members of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy - ADAE, who did their duty: this is what the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy president Christos Rammos testified to the European Parliament LIBE Committee (Opens in a new window)this week.

Rammos also stated that

“in January, government MPs and officials insulted me and threatened me personally, in public and blatantly, when ADAE tried to brief the opposition leader, based on his own request made following the law…, to know whether the Greek Intelligence Service EYP had wiretapped high-ranking public officials."

ADAE members who have been called to testify on 9 November as suspects for leaking information from the investigation are jurist Katerina Papanikolaou, whose term was due and she was substituted through a contested as to its legality procedure in the Parliamentary Presidents’ Summit, and Stefanos Gritzalis, professor at Piraeus University. They both supported Rammos’s decisions.

They are persecuted by ADAE legal advisor Ilias Theodoratos, who is considered to have been serving the “government line” in ADAE and to have tried to prevent the investigation, according to reports (Opens in a new window). Now-retired Top Prosecutor Doyakos gave the order to prosecute these two members.

ADAE president testified at LIBE a few days after Top Prosecutor Georgia Adilini ordered for the case to be taken away from the Prosecutor's Offices to the Court of First Instance and be assigned along with the forwarding of its files to Top Court Areios Pagos.

And here comes an important revelation: The Top Court “blocked” the possible revealing of the connection between the government and Predator, Reporters United reported (Opens in a new window) this week.

According to the Reporters United report:

In July 2023, ADAE concluded its report on wiretapping with Predator, which it then forwarded to the Prosecutor's Office to the Court of First Instance of Athens. An important finding was that at least 92 people had been targeted with Predator. ADAE thus gave Justice a critical ‘weapon’ to investigate the Predator Gate.

The prosecutors could investigate which Predator targets were also wiretapped by EYP, hence possibly revealing an EYP-Predator common ‘command center’- and prosecuting the perpetrators. This is why, at the end of September, the Prosecutor's Office to the Court of First Instance ordered ADAE to investigate whether EYP had also wiretapped the 92 Predator targets. ADAE president Rammos intended to go ahead with the order.

However, on 18 October, ADAE, under a new composition now, opposed going ahead with the Prosecutor’s order. It shall be remembered that the new ADAE composition followed a relevant government proposal and a voting procedure at the Parliament Presidents’ Summit, which came short of the obligatory ⅗ majority.

On 20 October, the Prosecutor's Office to the Court of First Instance, in essence, insisted on carrying out its order - to investigate whether the 92 people were targeted both by Predator and by EYP and asked all members of the new ADAE not to leak contents from the files.

However, on 23 October, the Top Court Areios Pagos prosecutor, after being updated by ADAE member Bakalis (who stood against the prosecutor’s order), took the case from the Prosecutor's Office to the Court of First Instance in Athens while the latter was investigating a possible EYP-Predator connection, Reporters United reported. Adilini ordered the case to be assigned to Areios Pagos deputy prosecutor Achileas Zisis. At the same time, the Top Prosecutor ordered Prosecutors Offices to the Court of First Instance to “abstain from any action in relation” to the case while accusing the prosecutors of “delaying concluding [the case].”