Ambassador forced to respond after reports of blocking DP Ruto from his country

alfred kiura

November 28, 2018 12:16 PM

The Israel embassy has addressed claims of denying DP Ruto a travelling Visa.

Deputy President William Ruto

The Israel embassy has addressed claims that it had denied Rachel Ruto and Deputy President William Ruto a visa to travel to the country.

A statement released on Wednesday by the Israel government dismissed the reports which had been written in a local in a local publication.

Diplomatic Passports

Israeli ambassador Noah Gal Gendler stated Ruto and Rachel hold diplomatic passports and do not require visas to travel to Israel.

Gendler stated that the warm friendship of Kenya and Israel had enabled both the governments to exempt visas for diplomatic passport holders and therefore neither DP Ruto nor his wife required visas to travel to Israel.

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He added that the Embassy of Israel felt aggrieved by the false story which it termed as "baseless and without a doubt irresponsible for any news channel, even one that wants to remain relevant."

On Monday Kenyalivenews.com wrote story where they claimed that the DP and his wife had been barred from travelling to Israel.

The Israeli Ambassador asked the online publication to apologise to Kenya, Israel and the embassy for the story.

Gendler did not, however, comment on claims by the same site that the Israeli government had withdrawn funding from the Galana Kulalu irrigation project due to graft at the National Irrigation Board.

Kenya, Israel Ties

In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kenya and urged Israeli entrepreneurs to invest heavily in Kenya.

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He said his that government has both strategic national and global interests in Kenya’s prosperity and it would only be prudent for his countrymen to utilise investment opportunities available in the East Africa’s largest economy.

President Kenyatta said the two nations haven’t yet exploited their full extent of economic cooperation saying the Israel Prime Minister’s visit provides a platform to explore the numerous and diverse business opportunities that the two nations offer.

alfred kiura