Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li said the relations began in 1958 when the Israeli Premier David Ben Gurion sent a Piper Cub plane as a personal gift to Premier Kwame Nkrumah on the occasion of Ghana's first anniversary of independence.
In her submissions, she added that it was natural for her country after recovering from poverty with a lot of experience understood the challenges that befall developing countries and that Israel felt the responsibility to share with these nations its experience and skills to boost their economies.
She also said Ghana “can count on Israel in times of difficulties as was demonstrated during the Melcom disaster last November when Israeli team consisting of disaster management experts, medical doctors with trauma experts and rescue specialists assisted Ghana in the rescue operation”, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.
She further pledged Israel’s commitment to Ghana when faced with hardships.
But according to Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, the Israeli Ambassador must be invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sanctioned to stop the culture where Ambassadors tend to dictate to the nation as if they know better than the government.
He expressed on Radio Gold on Monday that in his view “the Israeli Ambassador ought to be invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and put in her place. Because if you don’t do that, it will encourage others to also open their mouth and to talk as if they know better than our government. Israel cannot teach us any lessons in human rights. Israel cannot teach any lessons in diplomacy. This is a country which employed, actually appointed a racist; a Foreign Minister. What can Israel teach us?”
He therefore called on government to be firm in its position in foreign matters involving the nation.
To him, it would not augur well for the nation to embrace the practice where High Commissioners from foreign countries directly intervene in Ghana’s foreign policy issues.
“So, it is important for us to take a very firm stand when Ambassadors and High Commissioners directly intervene in foreign policy issues in Ghana, especially when they go on radio and make claims, which will suggest that our leaders don’t know what they are about and that they are in a better position to tell us what our foreign policy should be.” he said.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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