page_title: Greece–Israel relations
section_title: Cooperation between Israeli and Greek lobbies in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Greece–Israel relations / Cooperation between Israeli and Greek lobbies in the United States
caption_attribution_description: Ελληνικά: Την Παρασκευή 20 Ιουλίου 2012, ο Υπουργός Εξωτερικών Δημήτρης Αβραμόπουλος συναντήθηκε στο Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών με τον Πρόεδρο της Οργάνωσης American Jewish Committee, David Harris English: On Friday, July 20, 2012, Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos met the President of the Organisation of American Jewish Committee, David Harris, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
context_page_description: Greece–Israel relations are the bilateral relationship between the Hellenic Republic and the State of Israel. Relations between the two countries were strained during the late 20th century, but since 2008 they have been among the strongest in the Eastern Mediterranean. Israel and Greece consider each other as strong collaborators in the aspects of military, intelligence, economy and culture. Both countries are part of the Energy Triangle, which referred to the extraction of oil and gas from both Israel and Cyprus by 2015, which will be delivered to mainland Europe with a pipeline through Greece. The deterioration of Israel's relations with Turkey following the Gaza flotilla raid has heavily contributed to the strengthening of Greek-Israeli relations.
  Greece and Israel today enjoy excellent diplomatic relations. Both countries are partners in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and members of the Union for the Mediterranean, the World Trade Organization and other international organizations. Israel is the second largest importer of Greek products in the Middle East.
context_section_description: A new joint action committee for the Greek-Israeli alliance was created in the U.S. Congress in early 2013. The creation and goals of the Greek-Israeli Caucus under the name Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance were announced at a special event held in the Congress. It is co-chaired by Congress members Gus Bilirakis the Republican representative from Florida and Ted Deutch the Democrat from Florida, and the Greek-Israeli Caucus consists of powerful members of both Republican and Democratic party. It is estimated that it may become the most important pressure group in Congress by 2014.
  On 13 March 2013 in Washington the Israeli ambassador Michael Oren hosted the launching of a new congressional grouping dedicated to improving Israeli-Greek-Cypriot ties. Attending the launch were the co-chairmen of the newly established Hellenic-Israel Caucus, Ted Deutch and Gus Bilirakis as well as lawmakers including John Sarbanes and Eliot Engel, the senior Democrat on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren in his remarks at the dinner at his residence touted shared economic and strategic interests among Greece, Cyprus and Israel. The Greek ambassador Christos Panagopoulos in Washington announced that cooperation among the three countries would bring “peace, stability and prosperity” to the region. Also addressing the event was Olympia Neocleous, the chargé d'affaires at the Cypriot embassy in Washington.
  With the passing of Greek-American Leader Andrew Athens, the AJC has honored his pioneering work to advance Greek-Jewish and Hellenic-Israeli ties more than once. The most recent occasion occurred in recognition of Athens’ 90th birthday before AJC's National Board of Governors and invited guests from the political and diplomatic communities, in his hometown of Chicago in 2011. Partnering early on with his cherished friend, the late Maynard Wishner, a fellow Chicagoan and AJC national leader, Athens spearheaded a number of joint AJC and Greek-American delegations to Greece, Cyprus and Israel.
caption: Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos meeting with David Harris, the President of the Organisation of American Jewish Committee in Athens in July 2012
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:07:20 11:38:54", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "980", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1094", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4016", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:07:20 10:08:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:07:20 10:08:13", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "59/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "40", "EXIF SubSecTime": "27", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "27", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "27", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2551", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1807", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5616000/1459", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1872000/479", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}