Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Netanyahu meets Chad president ahead of opening of embassy

1 February 2023, 2:43 pm 0 Edit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with President of Chad Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in Jerusalem on February, 1 2023 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who is visiting Israel ahead of the opening of the central African nation’s embassy.

“We see these relations as extremely important — with a great country at the heart of Africa. These are relations that we want to upgrade to new levels, to new heights — and your visit here in Israel and the opening of the embassy are an expression of this,” Netanyahu said as the two met in Jerusalem.

In 2019, during Netanyahu’s last term, he and former president Idriss Deby Itno announced the reestablishment of diplomatic relations. Chad had severed ties with Israel in 1972 due to pressure from Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

Deby, who ruled the Muslim-majority nation for more than three decades, was killed in 2021 on the battlefield in a fight against rebels. His son replaced him as president.

Netanyahu has made expanding Israel’s ties in Africa a focus of his foreign policy in the past.