President Rivlin meets with Bishop Lekganyana of South Africa 19 October 2017
Israeli Missions Around The World MFA Press Room 2017 President Rivlin meets with Bishop Lekganyana of South Africa 19 October 2017

President Rivlin meets with Bishop Lekganyana of South Africa

  • 10/19/2017
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    President Rivlin: We can hear any kind of criticism, but the idea to boycott Israel, against the very idea that the people of Israel have a right to live in our homeland. This is something that we cannot accept.
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    President Rivlin with Bishop Lekganyana in Jerusalem President Rivlin with Bishop Lekganyana in Jerusalem Copyright: President’s Spokesperson
     
     
    ​(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)

    President Reuven Rivlin yesterday (Wednesday, 18 October 2017), met with Bishop Barnabas Lekganyana, head of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) – one of Africa’s largest Christian churches – who was visiting Jerusalem as part as a tour of Israel.
     
    The President welcomed the Bishop and spoke of the importance of the strong friendship between the Jewish community and the Christian communities in Israel and around the world. The President explained to the Bishop of his family's long history in Jerusalem, and that he was a seventh generation Jerusalemite. He told him, “We have never had a religious war with Islam, we understood that we had to live in harmony. We are now 50 years as the sovereigns of a united Jerusalem, and everyone can worship God according to their beliefs.”
     
    He added, “We can hear any kind of criticism, but the idea to boycott Israel, against the very idea that the people of Israel have a right to live in our homeland. This is something that we cannot accept.”
     
    The President stressed, “Israel is a Jewish-democratic state, there is no contradiction between the two ideas.”
     
    The Bishop’s delegation explained to the President their tradition of gathering millions of the Church’s followers together three times a year, and of the importance the community held in praying for peace for all mankind.