Published: 23 September 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Secret delegations from Pakistan and Indonesia are visiting Israel; First ambassador to Turkey in four years.
Diplomatic delegations from the world’s two most populous Muslim nations, Pakistan and Indonesia, are in Israel for secret visits this week.
The Pakistani delegation is made up of Pakistani-Americans and is headed by Nasim Ashraf, a former minister of state. The delegation consists of members of the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC) and Sharaka, an NGO founded in the wake of the Abraham Accords to embed people-to-people normalisation between Israel and Muslim-majority states.
The Indonesian delegation is headed by a "senior official" and comes as trade relations between the two countries improve. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also raised the possibility of Indonesia normalising its diplomatic relations with Israel in meetings with officials in Jakarta in December.
Relations are also improving with Turkey. Israel’s Foreign Ministry has announced that Irit Lillian, the charge d’affaires at the embassy in Ankara, will serve as the next ambassador to Turkey, subject to formal government approval and approval of the Turkish authorities.
She is the first ambassador since 2018, when Turkey ordered Israel’s ambassador to leave, in response to Gaza clashes.
Bilateral relations between Israel and Turkey had deteriorated under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially since the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, where nine Turkish nationals were shot by Israeli security forces.
But relations are warming. Tayyip Erdogan told a group of Jewish leaders in New York that he planned to visit Israel and will meet Prime Minister Yair Lapid next week on the sidelines of the United Nations 77th General Assembly.
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Pakistan, Indonesia delegations in Israel for secret talks (Jerusalem Post)
