Posted on 10/05/23
| News Source: Times of Israel
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi praised the warming relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday at a conference in Riyadh, calling them “blossoming ties.”
Karhi this week became the second Israeli cabinet member to formally visit the Saudi capital, heading a 14-member delegation to a UN Universal Postal Union conference.
Notably, the Israeli delegation did not have any representatives from the Israel Postal Company. Karhi has been feuding with the body since he fired its chairman, a move that the High Court of Justice has frozen.
Karhi addressed the forum in English, saying that “when nations converge on mutual goals, the outcomes can be monumentally transformative.”
“We appreciate the tireless efforts of the leaders of Saudi Arabia and our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for nurturing the blossoming ties between our nations,” he added.
The minister also thanked the government and people of Saudi Arabia for their hospitality, saying that “our common respect for God and tradition can serve as a bedrock of harmony between our peoples.”
Finishing in Tunisian Arabic, which he called his mother tongue, Karhi said, “May God bless you all and may God give you health, and may your lives be lives of joy and happiness. And we thank God for all the blessings showered upon us.”
During his trip, Karhi also visited a 500-year-old Torah scroll on display at an annual book fair.
The Likud minister was seen in a short video clip shared by his office reading from the religious scroll a description of the Sukkot holiday.