Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a historic visit to Jordan on Wednesday as he was received at the Al Husseiniya Palace by King Abdullah II at an official ceremony that began with an honor guard against the backdrop of Israeli and Jordanian flags.
Upon his arrival, the President and the King held a tête-à-tête meeting, after which they held a diplomatic meeting with the participation of both delegations.
At the start of the meeting, King Abdullah condemned the recent terror attacks in Israel and expressed his condolences to the victims’ families. He decried “tragic attacks on civilians on both sides, and especially what happened last night.” “Every life matters,” he said.
President Herzog thanked the King for inviting him. 44Thank you for your warm hospitality and friendship and for inviting me to this unique event, which I think expresses the friendship between our peoples. I bring a message of warm regards and friendship from the Israeli people,’’ he said.
He added, “We have suffered heinous terror attacks in the last ten days. Eleven innocent lives were taken in terrible attacks by vile terrorists. We must fight together against any type of terror and cooperate for the benefit of the security of our nations. We in Israel are extremely sad today. People are going to funerals. And I thank you for your condemnation as well as many other nations and leaders, including in our region, condemning this heinous attack.’’
“We share common values of prosperity and peace, based on our peace agreement, which was carved out by the late King Hussein, your legendary father, as well as by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Together, we must now move forward, and we are offering an alternative. As against the horrible scenes of yesterday, we offer a different alternative of people-to-people dialogue, of respect, of speaking to each other, of showing the region that there could be a different way,’’ Herzog said.
When President Herzog entered office, King Abdullah called him to congratulate him on his election, and since then the two leaders have conversed and met a number of times.
During the visit, the two leaders discussed several issues, including deepening Israeli-Jordanian relations, maintaining regional stability with an emphasis on the upcoming holiday period of Ramadan, Easter and Passover, strengthening peace and normalization, and the many latent opportunities in relations between Israel, Jordan, and the wider region.