Sorin Grindeanu, three-day official visit to Israel. It will be received by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Sorin Grindeanu is, together with Alexandru Rogobete, the Minister of Health and several parliamentarians, on an official visit to Israel. In the official agenda, the President of the Chamber of Deputies has meetings with the President of Israel, Itzhak Herzog, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The parliamentary delegation with which Grindeanu left includes Silviu Vexler, deputy from the National Minorities group and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, and deputies Silvia Mihalcea (PSD), Loránd-Bálint Magyar (UDMR), Alina Gorghiu (PNL) and Radu Mihaiu (USR). Together with them, the PSD Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, is going to Israel.

The first meeting began at 15:30, when Grindeanu was received by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024 over the Gaza war.

Benjamin Netanyahu was the first leader from a state allied to the West to be targeted by such a measure. The ICC found Netanyahu responsible for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, the PSD leader will meet with Blessed Theophilos III, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, and on Thursday, he will have a meeting with the President of Israel, Isaac Herzoc.

Grindeanu will lay a wreath at the Gal-Ed Memorial to fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism and will sign the Knesset's Book of Honor. He will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, where he will lay a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance and sign the Book of Honor.

“The State of Israel is one of the most important actors in current international politics and is an essential partner for Romania in the development of major projects in the economic field, in the defense sector and in the research and development area. We want to use the high-level expertise of Israeli companies especially to speed up the use of artificial intelligence in all branches of the Romanian economy,” said Sorin Grindeanu, according to a press release from the Chamber of Deputies.

And Ciolacu met with Netanyahu

On November 5, 2024, when he was still prime minister and the International Criminal Court had not yet issued the arrest warrant, Marcel Ciolacu also met with Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We express our support for the State of Israel's right to self-defense against terrorist threats. We also emphasize the importance of respecting international and humanitarian law and the need to protect all civilians,” said Ciolacu at the end of the meeting.

Then, in January 2025, Marcel Ciolacu invited Netanyahu to Romania, even though he could have been arrested, for a meeting of the Romanian and Israeli Governments. The meeting never took place.

“We will continue our joint efforts to promote peace and security and to implement the various economic and security projects that we agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu. We will also work on the preparation of the joint meeting of our governments, which will take place in Bucharest and to which we have invited the Israeli Prime Minister to participate,” said the invitation of the former PSD Prime Minister.