(JNi.media) Israel has reopened its embassy in Cairo after four years of being shut, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman announced on Wednesday. The original Israeli mission, in Giza, was stormed in 2011 by hundreds of anti-Israel protestors. Ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi then recalled his envoy in 2012, in protest of persistent Israeli refusal to allow rockets from Gaza to fall on its civilian population. In June 2015, post-Morsi Egypt appointed Hazem Khairat as its ambassador to Israel after the post had been vacant for nearly three years.
Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold attended the re-opening ceremony along with Israel’s ambassador to Cairo Haiem Koren.
In 2011, Turkmenistan refused to honor Koren’s credentials as Israel’s ambassador there, claiming he is a Mossad operative. The Turkmen Foreign Ministry informed then foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman that Koren’s resume indicates he spent three years as an instructor at the National Security College in Glilot, which they saw as proof that he was a Mossad spy, not a diplomat.
According to Yediot Aharonot, Koren’s residence, residence in the district of Maadi, in south Cairo, will be used as the headquarters of the Israeli Embassy until a new building is constructed to host the mission.
Kore is a former director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Political Planning Division and the former Israeli ambassador to South Sudan. He is fluent in Arabic, including Sudanese dialects. He has worked with security officials in dealing with Sudanese refugees from Darfur.