Ethiopian President on 2-day Israel Visit

Ethiopia’s prime minister arrived in Israel Sunday for a two-day visit geared toward boosting bilateral security cooperation and trade. At the beginning of his visit, Abiy Ahmed Ali met briefly with the mother of Avera Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ali also expressed support for the family of Ethiopian-Israeli Solomon Teka, who in June was killed by an off-duty police officer in an incident that sparked violent nationwide demonstrations. Abiy, who is making his first visit to the Jewish state since assuming office in April of last year, also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The premier described Israel’s 150,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent as a “living bridge” between the two countries and vowed to enhance cooperation with Addis Ababa in the fields of defense, agriculture and technological development. Netanyahu has gone to great lengths to make diplomatic and political inroads in Africa, having visited the continent three times since 2016.