Shahid Meets With Gilad Erdan, Israeli Ambassador To UN

Abdullah Shahid; the Maldivian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the current President of the United Nations General Assembly; has met with Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

Several Holocaust survivors had also participated in the meeting, in addition to Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Shahid had mentioned that Bourla's parents had also survived the Holocaust.

Shahid's meeting with the Israeli ambassador to the UN comes a short while after an Israeli newspaper published a report that the Maldives would soon re-establish ties with the Israel. The report had anonymously quoted an Israeli diplomat.

Gilad Erdan, a member of Israel's right-wing Likud party charied by Benjamin Netanyahu, had served as Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy in Netanyahu's cabinet. The role of the Minister of Public Diplomacy is to fight against the many online campaigns launched against Israel and to whitewash Israel's global image.

This would not be the firs time that a Maldivian government establishes ties with Israel; the previous MDP government lead by Mohamed Nasheed had seen the establishment of full diplomatic ties between the Maldives and Israel. Minister of Health Ahmed "Kerafa" Naseem, then the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had made an official visit to Israel, as well.