NICOSIA – Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, visiting Jerusalem, was awarded the  Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor by President Isaac Herzog although Israel has renewed relations with Turkey, which is drilling for oil and gas off Cyprus’ coast.
“While the nations of the Mediterranean have more often been divided by conflict than united by cooperation, Israel and Cyprus have actually built a true friendship,” Herzog said, reported the Times of Israel.

“The core of this new Mediterranean reality is built upon the brave Israel-Cyprus bilateral relationship, which you have courageously spearheaded, including our trilateral alliance together with Greece,” he also said.

That was in reference to regional EastMed Gas Forum, the EuroAsia Interconnector energy project, and the four-way strategic forum that the three countries formed along with the United Arab Emirates.

Herzog also praised “the warmth (Anastasiades has) consistently shown to Israel and the Jewish People,” adding that the Cypriot President “evokes intense feelings and emotions,” and hailing their strategic relationship.