Why does Albania allow Israelis to buy land? A legitimate and important question.

Norman Finkelstein  · 

Recep Çekin ·pnSsoetordu2m10ai2l216i71306l25210uu4g1cl0c56uig0h912l70hlcf ·

Why does Albania allow Israelis to buy land? A legitimate and important question.

Using Albania as an example, one can observe Israeli expansion policy very clearly. Upon closer examination, it is an Israeli coercion and pressure campaign against the Albanians with the help of NATO. The Albanian island that Kushner acquired largely for Israel used to be a huge Albanian military installation during the USSR era, firmly integrated into the Warsaw Pact military structure. The island is crisscrossed with tunnels, bunkers, and former underground artillery facilities that could be relatively easily revitalized and turned into a military base once again—this time for the Israelis.

At the same time, the bunker facilities near the coast, on whose foundations luxury hotels are planned to be built, offer a supposed sense of security for wealthy millionaires in times of war. The smallest double-room apartment, complete with a private butler and sea view, is expected to cost around €10,000 per night. Part of the island’s coastline is to become a marina where yachts can dock, and a runway for private jets is also included in Kushner’s project plans.

The acquisition of considerable amounts of land in Cyprus, Greece, and now Albania is a political positioning against Turkey. Israel has even publicly stated that Turkey is a strategic military target. This also concerns expiring lease agreements with Greece regarding Turkish islands in the Aegean, as well as the natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean extending down to the Levant.

Since the Syrian war, Turkey has been a painful thorn in Israel’s side. Turkey played a key role in enabling the emergence of a revitalized Islamic Sunni state in Syria, in line with the wishes of the majority of the Syrian population. This occurred under the leadership of a Muslim and alleged former terrorist, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has served as president of the country since December 2025.

As a result, Syria has also become a buffer zone between Israel and Iraq, thanks to Turkish geopolitical and military intervention. Even the decades-long conflict with the Kurds now seems capable of being resolved, and the Kurds have, above all, been freed from the grip of the USA and NATO/EU.

Syria causes Israel considerable concern and also helps explain the ongoing war in Lebanon. Israel views Lebanon as a military-strategic staging area against Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Netanyahu is pursuing several geopolitical objectives through the war against Lebanon:

1. Shifting the battlefield of Israel’s war with Iran into Lebanon, which is already clearly failing, because Iran is launching wave after wave of missiles, drones, and cruise missiles not at southern Lebanon but at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, already causing massive economic damage that will sooner or later lead to Israel’s economic collapse.

2. Eliminating Hezbollah, which in Lebanon is by no means perceived as a terrorist organization, not even by the Christian population, but rather as a legitimate military resistance movement against Israel. Since Israel has still not defeated the much weaker Hamas, a “victory” against the militarily far stronger Hezbollah is even less likely.

3. Establishing Lebanon as a buffer between Syria and Israel will fail, because the Egyptians have a significant say in the matter and are anything but pleased with Israel’s actions. An Israeli militarily controlled Lebanon would primarily mean a strategic move closer to the Suez Canal.

4. Gaining military control over another Mediterranean coastline—this time that of Lebanon—would also expand Israeli control over maritime routes in the Mediterranean. In a military confrontation with Turkey over the Mediterranean gas fields, controlling trade routes from Gaza, Lebanon, and the entire Levant all the way to the coast of Albania would be a major economic power factor in energy supply, especially vis-à-vis the EU, which Israel seeks to achieve.

5. Albania is also a wide-open gateway through which Israel could place its military boot in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is already, more or less, under Israeli control.

To be able to militarily control and pressure Europe, Israel needs a military bridgehead—a military base—on the European continent. The easiest European country to “persuade” was Albania, which, from Israel’s military perspective, is also ideally located geographically.

And it is also a political signal from Israel, sent via Albania, to the Italy on the opposite shore. We shall see whether the Albania-Israel project can be realized or whether it can still be prevented.

Everything is connected to everything else.