This is the first visit of an Israeli leader to Albania. Joining the visit was Idit Ahel, the mother of hostage Alon Ahel, whose family is originally from Serbia. The Albanian Prime Minister, known as an art and painting enthusiast, emotionally gifted Idit a book of his works as a gesture of appreciation and emphasized to her the importance of returning the hostages.
At the start of their meeting, President Herzog said: “Even at this moment, the hostages are being held captive in Gaza under cruel conditions, in blatant violation of every humanitarian and ethical norm. The entire international community must do everything in its power to bring them home. We are fighting more than one enemy at the same time – the trail of blood that connects all agents of hate is Iran, with its ruthless antisemitic obsession with the destruction of the State of Israel.”
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said: “I want to thank you in particular for bringing with you the mother of the hostage Alon Ahel. I had the honor to dedicate to Alon one of my art books. I pray every day for his return and hope he will be able to see my book himself.
I want to send a message of solidarity to all the parents of the hostages. First, I want to express my deepest condolences to all those who have lost their children, their loved ones, in this terrible moment in history. On the other hand, I wish for those whose children are still in captivity to embrace their children and loved ones as soon as possible. I fully agree with the need for the world to understand that the horrors we are witnessing, along with the many innocent victims of this war, in which so many innocents are losing their lives due to the need to root out this evil from deep within the ground, did not begin from nowhere. They stemmed from an atrocity that no one in today’s world could have imagined we would witness in our lifetime.”
