Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) read from a Torah scroll and performed the mitzvah of waving a Lulav in the holiday morning prayers on Tuesday with the 14-member delegation to Saudi Arabia. 

The  minister posted photos of the historic event to his social media, quoting a  verse from Daniel:

When Daniel learned that it had been put in writing, he went to his house, in whose upper chamber he had had windows made facing Yerushalayim, and three times a day he knelt down, prayed, and made confession to his God, as he had always done.

Daniel 6:11

“Here in Riyadh, we prayed with the windows open to Jerusalem,” Karhi added.

Shlomo Karhi waves lulav in Saudi Arabia (Photo via Facebook)

Karhi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday night for a Universal Postal Union (UPU) conference, becoming the second Israeli cabinet minister ever to visit Riyadh. Tourism Minister Haim Katz (Likud), who was in Riyadh last week to attend a conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Karhi is religiously observant and has garnered criticism for bringing his religious beliefs into politics.  On Purim, he made a post on Twitter addressing pilots, doctors, and members of the special operations unit who had announced that they would not volunteer to serve in the reserves if the proposed Judicial reforms were to pass. Karhi referred to them as “impudent conscientious objectors” and told them to “go to hell.” In his tweet, Karhi drew comparisons between the objectors and the biblical story of Mordechai and Esther, suggesting that Israel would prosper without them and that they were self-appointed rulers akin to Haman. After a wave of criticism, Karhi publicly doubled down, standing by his statements. 

Karhi is known for his opposition to the LGBT community and has been quoted as saying that Israeli Pride parades are “contrary to nature.”