Larnaca mayor Andreas Vyras on Monday responded to a circular sent by the interior ministry to every municipality and village in the country demanding the removal of any anti-Israel graffiti by saying local governments do not need “external instructions” to function.
“We do not accept suggestions from third parties, even more so from any foreign country,” he began.
He added that municipalities, “where they identify slogans which truly incite violence or contain hate speech, intervene without the need for suggestions”, while stressing that “at the same time, freedom of expression is non-negotiable”.
He said he will express this opinion in a reply which he will pen to the interior ministry in due course in his capacity as chairman of the union of Cyprus municipalities.
“At the same time, I personally cannot help but express my sadness at the fact that, at a time when there are thousands of dead people next to us … we are being called upon to turn public debate towards slogans on walls, instead of focusing on the essence of the great humanitarian crisis and the crimes against humanity which are ongoing,” he said.
The interior ministry’s permanent secretary Maria Christofi had penned a circular to every municipality and village in Cyprus, saying she had been given “instructions to forward” a circular sent to Cyprus by Israel’s diaspora ministry on the matter.
She also said she had been instructed to “forward to you instructions from [Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou] that any such slogans which are detected be removed”.
A copy of one page of the Israeli circular contains four photographs of what the country considers to be “antisemitic and anti-Israel graffiti”, the first of which shows a painting of a Palestinian flag being held near two heart-shaped balloons.
This painting had been created in reference to the releasing of two heart-shaped balloons attached to a Palestinian flag into the skies above Limassol’s Alphamega Stadium during a football match between Pafos FC and Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv in July.
The second photograph was of the word “Gaza” painted in blood red above a painting of a baby, while the third was of a tin oozing blood red paint, labelled “genocide”.
The fourth and final photograph was of the words “new natzi [sic] scum” above a modified Israeli flag, wherein the star of David had been replaced with a swastika.
Akel had been among the most vehement responders to the circular, asking, “is the Netanyahu regime exercising commando control over this country?”, and describing the interior ministry’s circular as “yet another act of shame regarding the stance it takes towards the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.
“The government, with its submissive attitude towards the criminal Netanyahu regime, is evolving into a propaganda machine for the atrocities taking place in Gaza. Its excessive and selective sensitivity to hate speech is nothing more than a pretext to silence any expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” it said.
It added that Christodoulides “shout understand that condemning the genocide is not ‘antisemitism’ but a moral obligation”, and that he should answer “whether the Netanyahu regime is ultimately in charge of this country”.
Disy, meanwhile, took a different stance, criticising Akel’s position.
“Akel’s stance is not surprising to us. Over time, it has chosen to face international issues with blinkers on and with ideological obsessions. In the same way, it uncritically supported the Soviet Union, condemned Cyprus’ accession to the European Economic Community, and attacked Nato without any inclination to realistically address our country’s interests,” it said.
It added, “we wonder whether if the letter Akel is citing today had come from the Palestinian side regarding slogans directed against it, would the party have issued a statement?”
“Akel’s selective stance and ideological one-sidedness do not help either the international dialogue or our country’s international image. Disy remains firmly in favour of a foreign policy based on principles the defence of human rights, and respect for international law, but also sobriety and realism,” it said.
“Cyprus needs responsible political discourse and not the dogmatic obsessions of yesterday.”
