Ethiopian PM meets mother of Israeli held in Gaza

In meeting with Netanyahu, Ahmed also paid respects to family of Solomon Tekah.

By HERB KEINON, GREER FAY CASHMAN
Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Abiy Ahmed Ali meet family of kidnapped Avera Mengistu (photo credit: ESTY DZIUBOV/TPS)
Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Abiy Ahmed Ali meet family of kidnapped Avera Mengistu
(photo credit: ESTY DZIUBOV/TPS)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali kicked off a two-day visit to Israel on Sunday by talking briefly with the mother of Avera Mengistu who is being held in Gaza, and sending words of comfort to the family of  Solomon Teka the 19-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli teenager killed in June by an off-duty police officer in an incident that sparked massive demonstrations.
Ethiopian PM meets mother of Israeli held in Gaza
Abiy, who is visiting Israel for the first time since being elected in April 2018, went directly to Yad Vashem after arriving on Sunday morning, followed by a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu invited Agamesh Mengistu, the mother of Avera Mengistu, to be among those in the receiving line when Abiy arrived, and the two spoke briefly.
Abiy, during his opening comments, sent condolences to the families of three Israelis who lost their lives in Ethiopia this year: Shimon Re’em and Avraham Matzliah, who were killed in the crash of an Ethiopian airliner in March, and Aya Na’aman, who died during a trek in the Danakil Desert in August.
Abiy then said that he would also like to “take this opportunity to pay respects to the family of Solomon Tekah, an Ethiopian-Israeli who lost his life in a tragic event here in Israel.”
In times of tragedy, he said, the two countries “mourn together as two families.”
Speaking two words of Hebrew, he said, “We are brothers.”
Netanyahu welcomed Abiy by praising the economic reforms that he has instituted in Ethiopia, saying that the 150,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent in Israel are a “living bridge” between the two countries and pledging to do what he can to encourage Israeli investment in Ethiopia.
“Our trade is small, only $300 million, and can grow 10 times,” Netanyahu said, adding that trade and investments, as well as cooperation in security, agriculture, water management and technology, were to be the focus of their talks.
Netanyahu said that both Israel and Ethiopia are being “challenged by radical Islamic terrorists, and we believe we can offer some shared experience that we have garnered.”
Meeting with President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday, Abiy said “thank you” in Hebrew after Rivlin had reviewed the centuries old relationship between their two countries, underscoring the fact that during the visit of the Queen of Sheba, Jerusalem had been the capital and is still the capital.
The meeting was attended by two Ethiopian-born members of Knesset, Pnina Tamano Shata and Gadi Yevarkan, who was head of Be’eri Military Academy and a prominent activist in the Campaign for the Equality of Ethiopian Jews before becoming a legislator following April’s elections.
Ali told them that he respected them, was very proud of them and saw them as ambassadors for Ethiopia in Israel.
Abiy’s visit to Israel follows trips he made last week to South Korea and Japan. Netanyahu visited Ethiopia in 2016 and Rivlin visited in 2018.