Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Ethiopia in July this year.
The visit of the Israeli Prime Minister was revealed by Belaynesh Zevadia, Israel’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, during a celebration of the 68th Independence Day of Israel which was held on Wednesday May 18 at Sheraton Addis Hotel.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Zevadia said Ethiopia and Israel have historical relationship from the time of Queen of Sheba.
She noted that Israel under agreements on culture, education and scientific cooperation, provided short-term training in agriculture and other areas of expertise through MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation.
Ambassador Zevadia, who indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be making an official visit to Ethiopia in July this year, said she believed that the greatest time for Ethio-Israeli relations is yet to come.
Guest of honor on the occasion was State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie, who extended his appreciation to Ambassador Zevadia for the work she has done in enhancing relations between the two countries.
Ambassador Taye said, “Our ties are not only based on political and economic interests but also on the close people-to-people links we enjoy.”
Ambassador Taye highlighted the steady increase of technical assistance and emphasized that Ethiopia would like to see more investment from Israel.
He noted that Ethiopia attached high value to the relationship between the two countries.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, who also serves as a member of the Knesset (parliament), is Chairman of the Likud party.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Netanyahu is the first Israeli Prime Minister born in Israel after the establishment of the state.
Netanyahu joined the Israel Defense Forces shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967, and became a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal Special Forces Unit. Netanyahu took part in many missions, including Operation Inferno (1968), Operation Gift (1968) and Operation Isotope (1972), during which he was shot in the shoulder. Netanyahu fought on the front lines in the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, taking part in Special Forces raids along the Suez Canal, and then leading a commando assault deep into Syrian territory. Netanyahu achieved the rank of captain before being discharged.
After graduating from MIT with SB and SM degrees, Netanyahu was recruited as an economic consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1978 to found the Yonatan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute, named after his brother Yonatan Netanyahu, who died leading Operation Entebbe. Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988.