Anyone have any up-to-date info about the ferry routes from Haifa to Cyprus or Athens (or anywhere in Europe)?

Poseidon Lines´ website states that ´the service has been suspended until further notice´ (but some of their info is from 2002!!) But this is in fact backed up by ferrylines.com: Europe's Ferry Booking Portal info - no services leaving from Haifa.

So, at least for the moment, there´s no way to get out of Israel on a regular ferry?

Yes you can send with Rosenfeld
 

go to
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ry-again-40319

Mony did that no problem

Yoni

Thanks for that, it´s good to know that there are options!

Still I´m against the idea of freighting the bike, if I can find a ferry to take both me and the bike. That would be a lot less hassle I think (or at least this is usually very much so!)

It does seem like this could be possible from Lebanon, even though its not really a ferry route. Are there problems for tourists crossing between Israel and Lebanon (especially if coming from Israel)?

Well' that depends
 

You can go from Haifa Israel with the ship that will take the bike. But you need to know that it is NOT a ferry. it is a cargo ship that carry trucks (with fresh agriculture goods) to Europ. so they put the bikes in the corners and you can join the bike in a very bad standart.
About using the Lebanon option. You need to understand the political reality in the Middle East before coming here. Israel has an open border only with Jordan and Egypt. if you will have an Israeli stamp in your passport you will not be able to enter Syria or Lebanon. so if you want to take the bike to Erope from Lebanon you should go there from Syria.
You can visit Israel coming from Jordan. leaving the bike in the Jordanian side. On the border you can ask them to stamp on a separate page that will be attached to your passport. Then after returning to Jordan the page will be removed, ride it to Syria and to Lebanon from there take a ferry to Europe.

Have fun.

December 2008:
Came to Syria through Gaziantep, then to Jordan, from Jordan to Israel, through King Houssein border, which is the northern border. I got refused on the Jordan side, and had to go back to Amman to get a paper from some kind of administration, to allow me the border crossing with my bike.
So, back to the same border.
Getting in:
I managed to get a stamp on a separate piece of paper on the jordanian side. Israel border: surreal. Gun pointed at me - because I had lights on. Then 5 hours of inspection and questionning, because of the syrian visa ("why do you have a syrian visa?" I got the world map out of my bag... No joke. I had to explain that lybia is not that easy, and Irak not easier... "Do you have a return plane ticket?" My bike was parked right in front of her...). I managed to get a separate stamp for me, but NOT for the motorcycle (you don't need a carnet, but the importation of the vehicle is marked in the passport itself). The stamp is either in english or...in hebrew.
Getting out:
Much easier on the Israel side, for I knew everyone there. Surreal again (shaking hands, talking for hours about the travel, life in israel and so on). Managed to get the stamp on a separate paper. For the vehicule, same again: stamp on the passport - quite big this time.
Jordan side: I explained everything ("please do not stamp the passport, I'm going back to Syria, etc" "aïwa, aïwa, no problem"). No problem until I had to put my hand between the carnet and the stamp. He stamped my hand. Then looked at me, intrigued, and then sorry, when he realised what he was about to do.
Happy ending.
I went back to Syria, then to Turkey and Iran. Nobody suspected anything. Somebody I met on the road had to argue that the stamp for the exit of the israelian territory was a stamp from cambodia. It took some time, but it worked.