There were no handshakes but plenty of smiles at the meeting this morning, Aug. 13, between Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. Dendias arrived to Jerusalem for a snap visit, meeting first with Ashkenazi and then with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The visit comes just two months after that of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakisis on June 16. Like Mitsotakisis, Dendias was not asked to enter isolation and the meetings in both cases took place in Jerusalem.
Dendias arrived to Jerusalem only three days before the expected reopening of Israeli skies on Aug. 16. A statement by Israel’s Foreign Ministry after the meeting said that Greece will now allow Israelis to visit. “I welcome Greece’s decision to allow tourism from Israel to Greece in the era of the coronavirus. This decision expresses the warm bond between the countries and the common desire to return to a normal life. … I hope that more European countries will follow suit.’’
