President William Ruto and First Lady Mama Rachel underwent a series of protocol changes during their visit to Jerusalem days after attending the coronation of King Charles III in the UK.
According to a report from Jerusalem Post, the menu at the state dinner was changed from beef to seared sea bass. Initially, the dinner consisted of beef except for those who are vegetarians.
One of Kenya's delegations, however, assured the hosts that Ruto was flexible and hence could do either - further pointing out that fish is one of the staple foods in Kenya.
This was therefore treated as a thoughtful gesture to have fish rather than meat as the main course.
Ruto, who was hosted by Israel President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, was also treated to a musical performance by artist Daphna Dekel who sang in three languages: English, Hebrew and Swahili.
President Herzog then proceeded to take Ruto from table to table to introduce him to all the guests.
This was a different move from the former customary protocol at state dinners whereby guests had to file past visiting presidents before the dinner and be introduced by the Chief of State Protocol.
However, the Israeli president took a different approach by taking his presidential guests of honor to every table, which in turn enabled those present to take a selfie with Ruto and Rachel.
At the state dinner, Ruto discussed issues regarding climate change as Kenya is slated to host an international conference in September 2023.
During his two-day visit to Israel, Ruto held talks on security, health, energy, water management, irrigation, agriculture, food sustainability, communications technology as well as investment.
He noted that Kenya sought to strengthen ties with Israel by doing away with double taxation and reducing restrictions.
On the other hand, President Herzog praised Kenya for one of its prized assets which is athletes.
"We envy and will always envy Kenya for its runners," he noted while adding that Israel’s champion marathon runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter is a Kenyan married to an Israeli.
