The Hellenic Axis is the name Israeli officials gave in August 2026 to the Greece-Cyprus-Israel alignment they framed publicly as their counter to the Saudi-Pakistan-Turkey defense pact signed in Mecca. John Kiriakou sat on Middle East Eye’s live panel about it and put both sides of the trade on the record, the Greek government’s real fear of Turkey, and a Greek street that is not paying for it.
The framing
The label came from an Israeli minister. Kiriakou credits Middle East Eye’s own summary: “Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed a joint defense agreement in Mecca, framed by many Israeli officials as a threat. Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai was among others who said Israel’s clear counterpoint was the Hellenic Axis. This means Greece and Cyprus.”[1][2]
The quid pro quo
Kiriakou’s summary of the trade: “The Greeks are looking for protection from the Turks, and the Turks and the Israelis have absolutely terrible bilateral relations. In fact, the Israeli defence minister said just four weeks ago that Israel’s next war would be against Turkey. The Israelis don’t believe that even if the Turks invoke Article 5 of the NATO charter, an attack on one being an attack on all, that the United States would fight Israel on behalf of Turkey. And so I think they’re trying to force everybody’s hand here.”[3][4]
The weapons flow: Greek defence spending has risen from €5.5 billion in 2019 to over €8 billion a year, with €28 billion in modernisation planned by 2036, the July 2026 approval of a €3.5 billion Israeli air-defence system Kiriakou calls “just one part of the biggest military overhaul in modern Greek history.”[1][5]
The Rhodes machine gun
The fear of Turkey, Kiriakou insists, is real down to the household. He gave the concrete example on air. Visiting his ancestral house in the village of Yalisos on Rhodes, at his cousin Christos’s place, he noticed “there was a machine gun against the wall.” His cousin’s answer: “All you have to do is look out the door. You can see the mountains of Turkey. We have to protect ourselves somehow.”[6][7]
He layers the Turkish provocations on: Turkish newspapers “as recently as two days ago publishing maps that show all of the Greek Aegean islands as Turkish,” a Turkish defence minister threatening an invasion, Turkish fighter jets violating Greek airspace “literally every single day.”[7][8]
The Israeli terms
The reason Kiriakou expects the Hellenic Axis to fracture is that the entry price is not defensive equipment but a permanent Israeli presence. “The Israelis asked the Greek government if they could have permission, for example, to purchase an entire island that would just be a Jewish island. And Greek citizens see what’s happening in Cyprus where the Israeli government and Israeli investors are buying entire villages or entire neighborhoods in cities like Paphos and Larnaca. There’s an Israeli military base there now. There’s a Mossad base in Cyprus where there never was one, at least publicly, ever before.”[9][10]
The property squeeze on ordinary Greeks
Kiriakou is house-hunting in Athens. “When I started looking about 2 years ago, things were affordable in the center of Athens, the historic center, the area essentially around the Acropolis and then stretching north about a mile, a mile and a half. And now it’s not affordable. It’s because so many Israeli investors have come in and bought up the properties in the historic center.” His summary: “You can only afford it if you’re Israeli, Russian or Chinese, because they’re the ones spending the money there and the Greeks don’t want it.”[11][12][13]
The 2027 reckoning
Kiriakou’s political forecast is short. Elite strategy is pulling Athens toward Israel; Greek public opinion, “the Greek people recognise a genocide when they see one, and they don’t want to do business with Israel”, is pushing the other way. “There’s going to be Greek national elections in 2027, next year. And I think this is going to be a major issue. It’s not all economics in Greece anymore.”[5][8]
The café confrontation
Kiriakou closes the personal side of the story with an anecdote from a CD-neighbourhood café in Athens, days before the show. “One guy said, ‘I know you. You’re the CIA guy.’” Kiriakou answered friendly. “And he says, ‘I don’t like you at all. You better shut up about Israel.’ And then of course I noticed the Hebrew accent.” Kiriakou’s reply on air, and to the man: “Oh, I’ll never ever stop talking about the genocide that you’re committing in Gaza and in the West Bank and in Syria and in Lebanon and in Iran. So no, you’re not going to silence me.”[14][15]