TEHRAN — Israeli “President” Isaac Herzog faced sharp condemnation during an official visit to Nicosia on Thursday, as human rights organizations and anti-war activists gathered outside the Presidential Palace to denounce the Christodoulides administration for hosting the head of a regime conducting genocide in Gaza.

Extensive police barricades sealed off nearby avenues while demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags chanted against imperialist aggression and held banners demanding an immediate end to official complicity.

The protest brought together a broad coalition, including the Pancyprian Peace Council, United for Palestine Nicosia, Genocide-Free Cyprus, BDS Cyprus, and Far Right Watch Cy.

Inside the palace, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides reportedly held bilateral discussions with Herzog focused on “joint defense frameworks, maritime energy corridors, and regional intelligence sharing.”

Protesters warned that deeper military integration directly exposes Cyprus to retaliatory strikes and entangles the island in Tel Aviv’s ongoing regional wars.

Athena Kairati, spokesperson for United for Palestine Nicosia, rejected official attempts to frame military partnership as regional stability. “We do not want Cyprus to become a war base,” Kairati told the gathering, according to a report by Kathimerini. “We want Cyprus to be a bridge of peace, without armies and not a base of war.”

She added that tying Cypriot natural gas initiatives to Israeli corporate interests compromises national sovereignty for financial gain.

Speakers highlighted the stark double standard governing Cypriot diplomatic strategy.

While Nicosia routinely cites international law regarding the foreign occupation of northern Cyprus, it actively collaborates with an occupying power in Palestine. Tasos Kosteas, president of the Pancyprian Peace Council, delivered a sharp critique of the official reception.

“Every time Cyprus rolls out a red carpet to welcome the political leadership of Israel, blood flows under our feet,” Kosteas said.

He dismissed assertions that Tel Aviv provides diplomatic leverage, stating that Israel holds no interest in resolving the Cyprus issue and will never assist in liberating the island.

Haitham Alzir, representing the local Palestinian community, called for an immediate economic embargo on illegal Israeli settlement products. “Cyprus knows what occupation means,” Alzir said, emphasizing that genuine peace requires an absolute end to land theft and ethnic cleansing.

Far Right Watch representative Orestis Matsas referenced findings by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which documented genocidal operations in Gaza and identified Herzog’s public statements as direct evidence of genocidal incitement.

Activists concluded that by extending diplomatic legitimacy to Herzog, Nicosia surrenders its moral authority and undermines its own anti-occupation stance on the international stage.