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Top Israeli official meets with president of Chad

In its continued effort to pivot away from Europe where anti-Semitism dominates, Israel has been working to strengthen and even re-establish ties with numerous countries on the African continent – including some that are Muslim. 

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Director-General Dr. Dore Gold met last week with the president of Chad, Idriss Deby Itno, and discussed renewing diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The meeting reportedly took place at Deby’s presidential palace in the city of Fada.

The Republic of Chad, in Central Africa, cut diplomatic ties with Jerusalem in the 1970s.

“Chad is a central country on the African continent,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It is a Muslim, Arabic-speaking country that deals with radical Islamic terrorism and this year holds the rotating chairmanship of the African Union.”

The two sides discussed issues of common interest and the deepening of bilateral cooperation.

Chad, a predominantly Muslim African country, is the latest African country to examine diplomatic ties with the Jewish State.

The tide of Israel’s renewed relations with Africa comes on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic visit to four African countries earlier this month, the first such visit by an Israeli premier in decades.

The latest African country to restore diplomatic relations with Israel was the Republic of Guinea, which did so after almost five decades of a cessation in the relations with the Jewish State.