BDSers managed to shout down Bassem Eid in the US and post illegal libels in London tube trains. However, in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, there was one big BDS fail.
President Reuven Rivlin welcomed President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta to Beit Hanasi, the official Israeli presidential residence.
The Presidents stood outside for both countries’ national anthems and red-carpet military honor guard reception before entering the main hall.
President Rivlin opened his remarks, with remembering Kenya’s role in Entebbe.
We have had a remarkable relationship between our two peoples. It’s a partnership that dates back over half a century. Your father, Jomo Kenyatta, is the founding father of the Kenyan nation, and the leader of your country’s struggle for independence. He was also the architect of the friendship between Israel and Kenya. He demonstrated that friendship most dramatically 40 years ago in helping Israel in the raid in Entebbe to rescue our hostages. This is something that has left a deep imprint on Israel. The people of Israel are grateful for that. And I’m personally grateful for that.
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta responded clearly in English and concluded saying:
We have no room for extremism, we must do everything that we can to protect the freedoms and the beliefs and the principles and the common values that we share and we look forward to further strengthening our cooperation in the security area. We look forward to partnering with you and with the rest of the world in combatting violent extremism and all this in order to be able to give our people the freedoms necessary to be able to enjoy a prosperous, stable, free society. So, I am looking forward to engaging with you and your government in these ends as well as further deepening our cooperation in agriculture, as you said, in irrigation, in water management and the experiences that Israel itself has had as well as information technology where we in Kenya can learn a lot from your own particular experiences.
A few loud mouths can shout down speakers and deny them the basic right of free speech. They can plaster blood libels all over trains and walls. They can invent more lies to spread on social media. They can rant and rave and cause Arab workers to lose their livelihoods.
But in Jerusalem, Israel today, the truth is that a large delegation of Kenyan officials arrived to do business with Israel, in security, technology, water, investment and more.
President Rivlin watched as President Kenyatta wrote in the Israeli official guest book.
God bless the two great nations Kenya and Israel.
