PIRAEUS – Aluf Benn, Editor-in-Chief of the leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz, provided an overview of current Israeli politics and strategic challenges during his lecture at the University of Piraeus sponsored by the School of Economics, Business and European Studies. Titled “Fabius Maximus Reincarnated – Israel in the Netanyahu Era,” Benn told how Netanyahu, after a shattering defeat early in his career, has become a master of strategic ambiguity that keeps the Israeli political left and right at bay and balances domestic and international pressures.

Benn also spoke about the complexities of Israel’s relationship with Turkey, and the importance of the continual broadening and deepening of Jerusalem’s relationship with Athens, which he says is based on people to people contacts at all levels of society, which was never the case with the once promising but now seriously damaged Turkish relationship.

The guests, including professors and graduate students, were welcomed by Aristotle Tziampiris, Political Science Department Chairman, and Athanasios Platias, Director of the Graduate Program of International and European Studies, who thanked Israel’s Ambassador Irit Ben-Abba for her role in the development of ties between Greece and Israel.