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The first visit of Israeli Prime minister in Athens caused strong national and international response. The Greek Prime minister George Papandreou, as if to prove once again that he has nothing to do with the old PASOK, whose congresses frequent guest was Yasser Arafat, invited his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on an official visit at the height of a summer, which can be described as a difficult one for the government in Tel Aviv from a diplomatic point of view. The invitation caused the disapproval of the Arab world and Papandreou had to personally calm in phone calls the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, the leader of the autonomous Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and the Secretary General of the Arab League that the principles of the Greek foreign policy have not changed and that Athens will continue to maintain close relations with the Arab world.

The visit of Netanyahu caused a tacit for now disapproval of Ankara, which still can not forgive Israel that it afforded to fire the humanitarian aid escort to Gaza, where bulletproof vests, knives, sticks ...and other “building” materials were found. The visit which should be defined as historical by all political rules irritated especially the Greek Left. The Communist Party of Greece immediately determined the policy of Israel in the Middle East as “imperialist,” and the Coalition of Radical Left questioned why the Prime minister invites Netanyahu at a time when Israel is in practice in international isolation.  

And since the Left in Greece is not content with loud words, but always proceedes to action, Benjamin Netanyahu is met with state honors and with protests. They will start at 19.30h in front of the Military Museum and will end with a protest procession in front of the Israeli Embassy in Athens. This time the Greek police will act in the know-how of the Mossad. Israeli security forces have occupied the Greek capital already for days to ensure smooth movement of their Prime minister. He settled in the Athens Hilton hotel, not at Megali Vretania, where state officials usually stay. An exception recently was and…his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who also chose Hilton.   

The bilateral relations between Greece and Israel and the situation in the Middle East are on the agenda of the two Prime ministers George Papandreou and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli guest will visit the Acropolis and then will have dinner with his host. Tomorrow morning Benjamin Netanyahu will meet the New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras and after that together with Papandreou will leave for the island of Poros. The agents of Mossad have inspected the island already.  

The news of the first visit of Israeli Prime minister in Greece is the leading one in all the Greek media, which focus on the contradictory responses to the historic visit.