TEL AVIV – In an unprecedented move, an Israeli Knesset minister met in public with officials from Gulf states and a Palestinian diplomat in Ecuador, and credited President Donald Trump’s efforts in the Middle East for bringing it about.
Druze-Israeli Likud Minister Ayoub Kara was attending the swearing-in ceremony of Lenin Moreno as Ecuador’s new leader along with delegates from around the world.
According to the Times of Israel, Kara tweeted that he was “surprised by the warm attitude of representatives from the Gulf states,” crediting Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel as a game changer.
Kara, a minister without portfolio, posted photos of himself meeting with representatives from the Palestinian Authority along with delegates from Oman, Qatar, Yemen and other Arab nations, as well as the prime minister of the Sahrawi Republic of southern Morocco, Abdelkader Taleb Omar, the report said.
Kara said in a statement that the meetings were “open and cordial” and all sides “expressed their approval to move forward with the political negotiations.”
“President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are coordinating every step of this political initiative, and there is progress on the issue,” he said.
“For the first time, after years of action in the political arena, [representatives of] countries from the Saudi coalition agreed to meet openly with me as a representative of the State of Israel,” he tweeted in Hebrew.
The minister also spoke with the presidents of Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay to convince them to join forces with Israel in the fight against terrorism.
“Just as Africa has taken giant steps closer to Jerusalem, we will do everything for Ecuador and all of Central and South America to come closer to Israel too,” he said.