{"id":26646,"date":"2016-07-06T01:57:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T01:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/uhuru-netanyahu-agree-deals-in-security-health\/"},"modified":"2016-07-06T01:57:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T01:57:32","slug":"uhuru-netanyahu-agree-deals-in-security-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/uhuru-netanyahu-agree-deals-in-security-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Uhuru, Netanyahu agree deals in security, health, agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Israeli Premier thanks Kenya for its assistance in the Entebbe raid of 1976 to rescue hostages.}<\/p>\n

Israel has agreed to help Kenya to fight terrorism by sharing intelligence. The Jewish state will also assist in the construction of a border security wall with Somalia to stop the flow of fighters who cross over to conduct terror attacks.<\/p>\n

President Uhuru Kenyatta and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also struck a deal to allow Kenyan diplomatic passport holders \u2014 top government officials and prominent personalities \u2014 to travel freely to Israel. Israeli top officials will also enjoy free entry into Kenya.<\/p>\n

These are among agreements reached by the two leaders on Tuesday during bilateral talks at State House, Nairobi, aimed at strengthening the relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n

The Israeli PM used the meeting to urge President Kenyatta to convince member states of the African Union to restore Israel\u2019s observer status and relations with the continent.<\/p>\n

The two leaders were in agreement that terrorism has taken an international perspective and must be fought by a united world community.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenya and Israel, just like other nations of the world, are facing the challenges of terrorism and today was a great opportunity to discuss ways of dealing with the issue of terrorism,\u201d said President Kenyatta.
\nMr Netanyahu said Israel had developed the ability to detect terror attacks in early stages of planning and was ready to share with Kenya its tactics of pre-empting such attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know in advance that an attack is going to happen and can pre-empt it, it saves lives,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael is doing this and we will share intelligence with Kenya and Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that terrorism was rearing its ugly head in Africa and internationally, citing the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) \u2014 which arose out of the failure by Western powers to impose democracy on Middle East states \u2014 and Boko Haram in Nigeria as examples.<\/p>\n

(READ: Israel and Kenya to boost security partnership in terror fight)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a raging crisis of terrorism, from the Isis to Boko Haram. Where Israel can help, we will,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Israel will help Kenya to speed up the construction of the Somali border wall, said sources at the meeting. Even though they did not speak about it in public, those who attended the meeting said Israel agreed with Kenya that the wall, which is under construction, will aid the war on terrorism and management of the flow of refugees.<\/p>\n

ERECTED 240KM BARRIER<\/p>\n

Israel is building a 30km wall on its border with Jordan, a continuation of a 240km barrier it erected along its border with Egypt\u2019s Sinai peninsula. It has another wall in the Golan Heights, which it occupies, and others running within the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

The two leaders instructed Interior Affairs Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery and his Israeli counterpart Gilad Erdan to discuss the finer details of the security agreements entered into.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs they have done for years, the Prime Minister and the Israeli people continue to extend invaluable support to Kenya; helping us build capacity and bolster internal and regional security,\u201d said President Kenyatta.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe are in ongoing talks about how to strengthen and expand the cooperation so that we can gain from Israel\u2019s expertise in cyber security and other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu flew in on Monday night from Uganda, where he had spent eight hours in a commemoration of 40 years after the Entebbe raid in which Israeli commandos rescued 102 hostages held by terrorists. Unfortunately, the PM\u2019s brother, Lt-Col Yonatan Netanyahu, who led the Operation Thunderbolt mission, was killed.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu remembered Kenya\u2019s assistance in the operation, when it allowed Israeli aircraft to refuel at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on July 3, 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenya\u2019s assistance during the Entebbe raid dealt a devastating blow to international terrorism,\u201d the Premier said and added: \u201cKenya is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Kenyatta also recalled the event, saying \u201cwe stood with Israel both in practice and in principle\u201d and paid heavily when Kenyans were killed by the dictatorial regime of Idi Amin.<\/p>\n

He was referring to Kenya\u2019s former Agriculture minister Bruce Mackenzie, who was killed by a bomb in Ngong as he flew from Entebbe in 1978. It has been claimed that Ugandan agents planted the bomb in the aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the large-scale success of Operation Entebbe, good prevailed over evil; right over wrong and, today, as we remember that heroic undertaking and the valiant efforts of those soldiers; including one of their leaders, the Prime Minister\u2019s own brother, Lt-Col Yonatan Netanyahu, it should be a source of incredible encouragement and hope to a world that is increasingly standing together to counter callousness and cruelty of terrorism \u2014 something Israel and Kenya have always done together,\u201d said President Kenyatta.<\/p>\n

{{Signed bilateral agreements }} <\/p>\n

The two also signed bilateral agreements in health, irrigation and immigration, of which President Kenyatta said: \u201cThe agreements will allow us to build the capacity of our health systems and professionals in the area of emergency preparedness and resources as well as specialised medical services.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Immigration, he said: \u201cOur immigration agreement will see the abolition of visas for holders of diplomatic passports in our two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu sent out an invitation to African countries to work with Israel to fight terrorism and initiate development, arguing that it was time for better relations with the AU. He said Israel has mended its relations with some neighbouring Arab states and wondered why Africa should keep off.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica has no greater friend \u2014 I know you have other friends \u2014 than Israel,\u201d said Mr Netanyahu. \u201cWe are struggling against the same adversaries and we should seize opportunities for tomorrow.
\n\u201cThings are changing in the world, Middle East and Arab neighbours with Israel; why not Africa?\u201d<\/p>\n

President Kenyatta argued that the historical reasons that led to the cutting of links between the AU and Israel were no longer relevant.<\/p>\n

Diplomatic relations between Israel and Africa were severed in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. That were not helped by Israel\u2019s friendship with Apartheid South Africa before its fall in 1994.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world has changed; we cannot hide in history and fail to address the challenges of today,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will be foolhardy to sit back and say Kenya and Africa cannot engage Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Israeli<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Israeli Premier thanks Kenya for its assistance in the Entebbe raid of 1976 to rescue hostages.} Israel has agreed to help Kenya to fight terrorism by sharing intelligence. The Jewish state will also assist in the construction of a border security wall with Somalia to stop the flow of fighters who cross over to conduct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2461],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-26646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-daily-nation"],"bylines":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26646"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=26646"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=26646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}