Characterizing Israeli-European ties as important on many different levels,
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon offered an olive branch to the EU Sunday,
just days after outgoing foreign minister Avigdor Liberman slammed Europe for
what he said were biased polices toward Israel.
“Israel-Europe ties are
very important on a strategic, political, economic and cultural level, and
therefore we should have a serious and intensive – but not public – dialogue,”
Ayalon said at a meeting with EU Middle East envoy Andreas
Reinicke.
Ayalon, who Liberman unceremoniously left off the joint Likud
Beytenu list for the upcoming elections, said Israel would continue to engage in
quiet diplomacy with the EU to work out all the issues on their joint
agenda.
“There are more things we have in common than that separates us,”
Ayalon said.