Uhuru and Netanyahu in Israel last week.
The two discussed Raid On Entebbe
Benjamin Netanyahu will this summer be the first Israeli leader to visit Africa in 50 years.
“I received an invitation from the president of Kenya to visit Africa and I intend to do so around the 40th anniversary of the raid on Entebbe. It was a dramatic national event with great personal consequence for me,” he said at the launch of a new Knesset caucus to promote Israel-Africa ties.
Uhuru Kenyatta visited Israel last week and “Operation Entebbe” inevitably got into the conversation. The lone casualty among the Israeli assault team was Netanyahu's brother Yonatan, who headed the operation.
Dubbed "Operation Entebbe", Israeli commandos completed a daring operation to liberate Israeli hostages in Uganda on July 4, 1976.
According to The Times of Israel @timesofisrael, the Uhuru and Netanyahu last week also signed a joint statement focusing on water and agricultural issues, promoting cooperation and establishing a joint bilateral committee.
“Israel is coming back to Africa. Africa is coming back to Israel. It’s happening in a big way,” the prime minister said Monday in the presence of Israeli lawmakers and several ambassadors from African countries. “It’s happening now because it’s so clear that it’s good for Africa and good for Israel.”
“I look forward to my visit in Africa. If I could, I’d like to visit every one of your countries,” he told the foreign envoys.
Islamic terrorism is the world’s greatest challenge, and it threatens the entire African continent, Netanyahu said. Its nexus is in the Middle East but it is rapidly spreading, he said, adding, “It can be stopped if nations threatened by it make common cause.” Israel is willing to help Africa defeat Islamic terrorism, he vowed.
Photographs from the story of the
Entebbe raid, including Idi Amin
“The Jewish state is furthermore ready to assist Africa in the areas of health, science, agriculture, tourism, science and cyber technology, Netanyahu said. Any country can be brought to its knees without cyber-security, but Israel is now a “world power in cyber-security,” he added.
According to The Times of Israel, also speaking Monday at the launch of a new Israel-Africa caucus, Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein mentioned that ties with the continent have been an Israeli priority since the 1960s.
“Over the years there were better and worse periods. What we see in the last several years is a revival and renewal of our relations,” he said. “We have a lot to offer and a lot to learn.”
The Ethiopian-born MK Avraham Neguise, who chairs the new caucus, quoted Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl as saying that once he witnessed the Jewish people’s redemption he would like to see the same for Africans.
“The Jewish people and the people of Africa have a sense of sharing a common destiny. Both have suffered from discrimination and foreign rule. In this way both nations are united by a common historical struggle against colonization. This struggle can bring us together,” he said.
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