A scene during last Thursday’s event
The Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Roey Gilad, has expressed dissatisfaction over what he describes as the snobbish treatment from the Foreign Affairs Ministry towards the embassy anytime they want to engage the sector minister on various issues, especially the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
He said this in Accra last Thursday at the memorial ceremony to commemorate the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre that claimed over 1,200 lives in Israel.
According to Mr. Gilad, the Israeli Embassy has on several occasions been met with hostility from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“I want to be diplomatic about it, in today’s event, we invited the Minister for Foreign Affairs to grace the occasion but he failed to come.
“If this was the outcome of a bureaucratic blunder, the ministry owes the embassy an apology. If there is another reason, then the ministry and the minister owe the embassy an explanation,” he stated.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is on record to have taken issues with the Israeli war in Gaza.
The minister’s description of the war in Gaza as a genocide and angst over the humanitarian outcome of the conflict did not go down well with the Israeli Embassy.
Besides calling for an immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians who have borne the brunt of the killings and sufferings with over 60,000 deaths, the minister stated Ghana’s solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Ghana, he added, has made donation of humanitarian aid, including made-in-Ghana chocolate and cocoa products to the Palestinians in these difficult times.
The Minority in Parliament, on the other hand, have expressed concerns that Ablakwa’s description of the situation in Gaza as “genocide” and Ghana’s solidarity with the Palestinian people could undermine Ghana’s credibility as a neutral actor in global diplomacy.
The Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, cautioned that such statements may compromise Ghana’s moral authority and national interests. The Minority is urging the government to maintain neutrality in the conflict, emphasising the importance of consistency in articulating Ghana’s foreign policy.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke