Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted the newly installed Egyptian ambassador to Israel on Monday, The Times of Israel reported.

According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, “the two discussed, among other things, relations between Israel and Egypt, regional issues and the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.”

After the meeting, Netanyahu published a post welcoming the ambassador, Hazem Khairat, on his Facebook page.

Khairat arrived in Israel last month and presented his credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin last Thursday. On that occasion, Khairat hailed bilateral ties between Israel and Egypt and “expressed the hope that the Egyptian-Israeli ‘constructive’ relationship would help bring peace to the region,” The Times of Israel reported.

Khairat also said that he was “very happy and very proud to be in Israel,” according to Rivlin, and that he hoped to help forge “friendship between the Jewish people and the Arab people in general, and between the countries of the region, such that we can live in peace.”

The Muslim Brotherhood-led government of Egypt recalled its previous ambassador to Israel in November 2012. Earlier this week, an Egyptian parliamentarian was attacked verbally and with a shoe for meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren.

A video of Khairat’s presentation of credentials is embedded below.

[Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO ]