Newsroom
AKEL Secretary-General Stefanos Stefanou rejected accusations of antisemitism following criticism from Israeli Ambassador to Cyprus Oren Anolik, stating the party opposes all forms of hatred and misanthropy.
Speaking to Cyprus state radio, Stefanou said AKEL, a left-wing party, is ideologically opposed to antisemitism and emphasized that his criticism targets the Israeli government’s policies, not the Jewish community.
“Israel tolerates no criticism and wants to control everything,” Stefanou said, adding that under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the BBC are labeled antisemitic for criticizing the military campaign in Gaza. “We are against criminal, far-right policies, not people,” he said.
The Israeli Ambassador previously accused a “political leader,” widely understood to be Stefanou, of using antisemitic rhetoric during AKEL’s recent party congress. In his remarks, Stefanou had warned of “ghettos” forming in Cyprus due to property sales to Israeli nationals and referred to “Zionist schools and synagogues,” citing what he described as a strategy of Israeli expansion.
Anolik condemned these comments as targeting the Jewish community, calling them “plain and simple” antisemitism. He clarified that criticism of Israeli government actions is legitimate, but “targeting a community based on its identity has no place in a democratic society.”
