Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Markos Bolaris, received today the Israeli Ambassador to Greece, Irit Ben-Abba.The prospects of Greece cooperating with Israel were discussed, in sectors within the Deputy Minister’s competence. In this context, the Deputy Minister reiterated Greece's unwavering position with regard to maintaining the status quo in the Holy Land and referred to issues related to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, once again thanking the Israeli Government for the assistance it provided in the restoration work of the Holy Sepulchre in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For her part, the Israeli Ambassador stressed, inter alia, assignment of the dossier of the Patriarchate's property matters to the Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation, Tzachi Hanegbi, who is familiar with Patriarchate issues.The broad area of synergies on the basis of the new program of educational, scientific and cultural collaboration for the years 2018-2021 was stressed, for the benefit of students, researchers, and academics, as well as bilateral relations between Greece and Israel. There was also an exchange of views on the course of the presently forty-year-old interfaith dialogue between Orthodox Christians and Jews, the last round of which took place in Jerusalem in December 2017.Discussions extended into confronting instances of anti-Semitism on the part of the Governments of Greece and Israel. The Ambassador voiced her satisfaction with the Greek State’s condemnation of every expression of anti-Semitism and encouraged Greek educators and clergy to participate in educational programmes organised by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center (Yad Vashem) on teaching the Holocaust. The Deputy Minister's upcoming trip to Israel was also discussed, in the context of which he will visit the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and hold working meetings with His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III and his counterpart, the Israeli Minister.
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