Israeli Knesset Speaker: We “appreciate” Georgian population’s, Govt’s respect for Jewish communities, relationship between countries “getting stronger”

Amir Ohana, the Speaker of the Israeli Knesset on Sunday said that the Israeli side “appreciated” the Georgian population and the country’s Government’s respect for Jewish communities, and stressed that the relationship between two countries has been “getting stronger”.

“We see with concern the growth of anti-Semitism in the world, but I respectfully say that you do not see it in Georgia. In Georgia, the population and the government respect the Jewish communities and we can see that in this museum. We respect and appreciate that”, Ohana noted in his comments, while visiting David Baazov Museum of History of the Jews of Georgia and Georgian-Jewish Relations in Tbilisi.

The 2,600-year-old connection between Georgia and the Jewish people has become a true relationship between our two countries, and we have come to demonstrate these relations between the [two states] parliament’s as well”, he added.

Ohana highlighted that “even after 80 years” the Jewish side “still remembers some of the righteous nations, the very few who preserved humanity and saved Jewish lives in the darkest of times”, noting that one of them has been Georgian Sergo Metreveli. 

Israeli official extended his gratitude towards late Metreveli and his family for his efforts during the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews during World War II, and presented Metreveli’s family with certificates of honour.

The official visit of the Israeli Knesset Speaker begin today, he is set to meet Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, as well as with Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and Nino Kadagidze, the Chair of the Georgian Supreme Court on Monday.

Ohana and his accompanying delegation will be hosted by Georgian lawmakers at the plenary session of the Parliament of Georgia on Tuesday.