{"id":2801,"date":"2026-09-10T10:18:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/?p=2801"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:18:06","slug":"rosh-hashanah-meets-enkutatash-as-israeli-and-ethiopian-officials-mark-strategic-70-year-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/rosh-hashanah-meets-enkutatash-as-israeli-and-ethiopian-officials-mark-strategic-70-year-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosh Hashanah meets Enkutatash as Israeli and Ethiopian officials mark strategic 70-year partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">By Yohannes Lijalem<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">Addis Ababa (AMECO)- <strong>The Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa has hosted a joint celebration marking Rosh Hashanah and Enkutatash, as both nations mark 70 years of modern diplomatic relations following a series of high-level state visits.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The dual occasion coincided on the same day, bringing together Israel\u2019s ambassador to Ethiopia, Dr Avraham Neguise, and Dewano Kedir, director general for Middle East, Asia and Pacific affairs at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">Addressing attendees, Neguise highlighted the double significance of the shared calendar date and the 70th anniversary of modern bilateral ties, describing the relationship as &#8220;old in memory and young in possibility&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Dewano said the rare overlap of the Jewish and Ethiopian New Year celebrations reflected the long-standing cultural and historical connections between the two populations over centuries.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">The reception at the embassy complex was attended by religious leaders, members of the local Jewish community, representatives from the Shalom Club, civil society delegates, and media representatives. The event concluded with both delegations reaffirming commitments to strengthen diplomatic, economic, and security cooperation.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"9\">High-level exchanges and diplomatic momentum<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">Bilateral relations between Addis Ababa and Jerusalem have expanded significantly through reciprocal high-level visits:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"11\">\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_20574f892b8d860e-49\" data-path-to-node=\"11,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">February 2026:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-45 citation-end-45\">Israeli President Isaac Herzog undertook an official state visit to Addis Ababa on 24\u201325 February 2026 to strengthen bilateral ties, regional cooperation, and strategic partnerships.<\/span> <span class=\"citation-44 citation-end-44\">During his visit, Herzog held talks with senior officials and paid tribute to Ethiopian resilience at the Adwa Victory Memorial.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_20574f892b8d860e-50\" data-path-to-node=\"11,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">May 2025:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-43 citation-end-43\">Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa&#8217;ar visited Addis Ababa on 5 May 2025, leading a high-level trade and diplomatic delegation to strengthen bilateral, security, and economic ties, with a focus on agriculture, technology transfer, and regional counter-terrorism cooperation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_20574f892b8d860e-51\" data-path-to-node=\"11,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">March 2025:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-42 citation-end-42\">Ethiopia\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gedion Timothewos, conducted his first official visit to Israel in mid-March 2025 for high-level talks with his counterpart Gideon Sa\u2019ar in Jerusalem.<\/span> The trip came just two days after Timothewos met Israeli Ambassador Avraham Neguise in Addis Ababa to outline key strategic areas of trade, investment, and technology transfer.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">These engagements build on landmark state visits over the past decade, including trips by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July 2016, President Reuven Rivlin in May 2018, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed\u2019s delegation to Jerusalem in September 2019, and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen\u2019s visit to Addis Ababa in August 2023.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"13\">Areas of common cooperation<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"14\">Bilateral collaboration between the two nations spans several core strategic sectors:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"15\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"15,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"15,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Agriculture and Water Management:<\/b> Through Israel&#8217;s development agency MASHAV, Ethiopia leverages Israeli technical expertise in drip irrigation, soil conservation, and arid-land farming.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_20574f892b8d860e-52\" data-path-to-node=\"15,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"15,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Cybersecurity and Technology:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-41 citation-end-41\">Expanding joint efforts in digital infrastructure, telecommunications modernisation, and national cyber-defence frameworks.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_20574f892b8d860e-53\" data-path-to-node=\"15,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"15,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Regional Security and Counter-Terrorism:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-40 citation-end-40\">Sustained intelligence sharing and defence dialogue focused on Red Sea maritime security and countering shared extremist threats across the Horn of Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_20574f892b8d860e-54\" data-path-to-node=\"15,3,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"15,3,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Trade and Cultural Ties:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-39 citation-end-39\">Commercial partnerships and direct Ethiopian Airlines flights between Addis Ababa and Tel Aviv are anchored by the 180,000-strong Ethiopian Jewish (Beta Israel) community, which serves as a living bridge between both nations.<\/span>Source: Israel in Ethiopia<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Yohannes Lijalem Addis Ababa (AMECO)- The Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa has hosted a joint celebration marking Rosh Hashanah and Enkutatash, as both nations mark 70 years of modern diplomatic relations following a series of high-level state visits. The dual occasion coincided on the same day, bringing together Israel\u2019s ambassador to Ethiopia, Dr Avraham [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[127,78,500,85],"class_list":["post-2801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-world-wide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2804,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801\/revisions\/2804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2801"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}