Israeli President Isaac Herzog attended the climate conference in Egypt instead of PM Yair Lapid who rejected to represent the occupation entity after losing the Knesset elections.

Herzog exploited the conference, held in Sharm Al-Sheikh, to ameliorate the image of the far-right government, expected to be formed soon in light of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition’s win, during meetings with a number of Arab leaders.

Herzog also tried to maintain the normalization deals the Zionist entity had concluded with some Arab countries during the same meetings.

Yaron Abraham, correspondent of Israeli channel 12, said that Herzog told the Arab leaders he met that judging the new government must be in accordance with its acts, not statements.

Israeli ambassador to Egypt Amira Oron said that the relations between ‘Israel’ and Egypt will not be affected by the political change, adding that the Egyptians do know Netanyahu.

For her part, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg claimed she met with the Lebanese and Iraqi representatives to coordinate climate issues during the conference.

In photos provided by her office, she is seen seated behind a small Israeli flag. Two seats away from her is Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid and across the room is Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, each behind their countries’ flags.

Mikati’s office clarified the incident, saying it was being overblown in Israeli media.

It said the meeting was called for by the presidents of Egypt and Cyprus and was attended by a large number of Arab and international officials like other meetings at the climate change conference. “There was no contact whatsoever with any Israeli official,” it said.

Meanwhile, ‘Israel’ and Jordan on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to move ahead with a water-for-energy deal after an initial examination of the project found it to be feasible.