Last Friday, Mithal al-Alousi, a senior official in the new Iraqi government in Baghdad, boarded an El Al aircraft in Ankara and flew for the first time in his life to Israel.
Al-Alousi was invited to speak at an international conference of the Anti-Terrorism Institute in Herzliya.
On Sunday he found himself to be the guest of honor at an address by the chief of staff of the Israeli army, Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon.
