Moroccan king and Peruvian chief rabbi in surprise encounter

The king of Morocco, Mohammad VI, and the chief rabbi of the Sephardic Jewish community of Peru, Ben-Hamoy, have held a brief unexpected meeting in the presidential palace of Lima. The monarch and the rabbi shook hands and afterwards conveyed, each of them in their mother tongue, messages of peace and understanding for the Arab and Jewish communities to each other. Present at the encounter were Peru's president Alejandro Toledo, his wife (who is Jewish), and the ambassadors of the two countries. Afterwards, an advisor to king Mohammad told the news agency AFP that the meeting was of symbolic importance and was not originally planned to take place. Peru's first lady Eliane Karp told AFP that the chief rabbi was of Moroccan origin.