Klaus Jurgens

03 September 2026•Update: 03 September 2026

Klaus Jurgens is the director of Economyfirst Limited London.

“Moving Greece into a new reality” – this is how Defence Minister Nikos Dendias labelled his country’s massive deal with Israel signed earlier this week. The deal involves 3.1 billion euros of investment in order to obtain Israeli air defense technology, including the medium- to long-range “David’s Sling.” Granted, any nation has the right to defend itself against potential aggressors and prevention plays a central role—think of missile attacks, warplanes, or increasingly frequent drones. But observers might wonder: is Greece all of a sudden at the forefront of frontline states?

Let us quickly recall that the Achilles Shield project already existed before Monday’s deal – a total of 4.2 billion euros is earmarked for the entire program, yet with the bulk of it now flowing into Israel. Which brings us to the point: why now, and why buy from Israel?

From the Israeli perspective, securing Greece on board is highly opportunistic. As more and more European as well as non-European countries finally call a spade a spade and refer to Israel’s actions in Palestine as genocide, providing air defense systems to a NATO member state in the region is certainly aimed at diverting attention from just that: the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people. The deal fits nicely into Israel’s strategy of divide and rule – dividing public opinion abroad by falsely claiming the moral high ground and acting as the “good guys.” But ever since Oct. 7, 2023, more and more critical voices have appeared, arguing that Israel’s “right to exist” must not be misinterpreted as “Palestine has no right to exist.” Besides, Israel continues to create regional instability by illegally invading free neighboring nations such as Lebanon. We can observe a pattern of escalating tension, and the Achilles Shield deal with Greece is part and parcel of that trend. One might actually argue that after last year’s agreement to buy 36 Israeli-made rocket artillery systems to the tune of $740 million, this week’s additional defense partnership underlines Israel’s intent to split opinion amongst NATO allies.

Exporting instability to NATO

And Greece is not the only state that attracts Israel’s attention: Finland will start using David’s Sling, an anti-missile system, by 2027. First Finland on board, now Greece. Do we detect a strategy here? Exporting Israeli air defense technology to more and more NATO member states is an attempt to project Israel as a peacemaker and ally, rather than an aggressor. Israel knows only too well that NATO is in a kind of soul-searching process due to new geopolitical realities, as well as trying to figure out whether a defense alliance should become a value-based organization or simply focus on its core aims. All this fits nicely into the above-mentioned approach of exporting not only defense technology, but instability too.

To make matters even more delicate: Monday’s deal would not have happened if Washington had said ‘no’. The technology at stake requires the USA to be consulted, as Washington has a say over third-party intellectual property transfer rights. So: we already have three NATO member states actively promoting the sale of Israeli air defense technology. Which leads us to a major issue – how is it possible that Washington allows Israel to transfer technology to other NATO member states with the clear knowledge that Israel is facing genocide proceedings at the International Court of Justice?

The remaining NATO member states would be well advised not to follow in Finland’s or Greece’s defense footsteps, so to speak. Whilst the ICJ proceedings continue, it seems inappropriate to finance the Israeli regime by offering it huge defense-industry deals and investments. For sure, safeguarding a nation’s borders and territory is a legitimate undertaking. But there are other nations producing air defense systems, and not just Israel.

Economic illusions and hidden agendas

First, whilst the deal looks good on paper, it is no win-win situation at all. Out of the 3.1 billion euro investment, only a meager 25% will actually flow back into the Greek economy by means of involving Greek companies in the production of the air defense systems.

Second, would Greece not have been better advised to create additional employment at home instead of worrying about alleged and unproven threats against their nation?

And last but not least, could it be that by exporting technology to Greece, Israel maliciously wants to stir up public sentiment in Greece against the Republic of Türkiye? Israel is certainly worried about Türkiye as an ever more influential and democratic regional actor highly regarded in all four corners of the world.

Legitimate worries about global peace and stability are one thing, but exporting technology to be used as a Trojan Horse by Israel to divide Europe is something totally different. The EU, wider Europe, and NATO should not allow the latter to happen.

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu.