Jerusalem Post: Ayalon Shakes Saudi Prince’s Hand
The Jerusalem Post said Sunday that Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon shook the hand of Saudi prince Turki al Faisal during a panel of the Munich Security Council, on Saturday.
According to the Post, Ayalon was supposed to sit in a panel with the Saudi prince, the Turkish foreign minister, Hazan Zaki, a senior adviser in the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, US independent senator Joe Lieberman and Ayalon.
But al-Faisal asked to split the panel so that Lieberman and Ayalon would be paired with a Russian delegate and that he would sit with the Turkish and Egyptian representatives.
At the event, the JPost adds, Ayalon deplored the fact that some countries asked not to sit next to Israel’s representative, saying that it showed a gap existed between speech and action in the Middle East.
“The Saudi envoy then said he had no problem sitting in a panel with an Israeli representative,” the Jerusalem Post said. It added that Ayalon, who was on the stage, said that he would be happy to shake the prince’s hand, and that if the Saudi prince wished to remain seated Ayalon would come to him.
“The Saudi then rose from his seat and the two shook hands,” the JPost said.
