Jerusalem Post : Israel, Cyprus should cooperate on security of offshore rigs, ex-navy chief says

Israel and Cyprus should coordinate defenses of their offshore natural gas rigs in the Mediterranean Sea, former navy chief, V.-Adm. Eliezer Marom, said Wednesday during a security conference in Rishon Letzion.

Addressing an event organized by the Israel Homeland Security (iHLS) website, which focused on securing strategic facilities, Marom said an arrangement with Cyprus would benefit both countries.

It would also avoid the kind of situation in which Cypriot and Israeli maritime patrol aircraft fly near one another and monitor the same naval sectors, but transmit their data to Tel Aviv and Larnaca respectively, without any coordination.

In recent years, Israel has installed multiple layers of defenses around the offshore platforms in its exclusive economic zone, Marom added. "Looking out from the rig, one sees only water all around. But that's a deceptive view. It's not an island. There's a whole world [of defenses] around," he said.
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