Members of the North African delegation that visited Israel this week. Photo: Twitter/Israel Foreign Ministry.

JNS.org – A delegation of North African journalists and bloggers visiting Israel this week said their first impression of the country was of state that is “Western and free,” English-language Israeli site Ynet News reported.

Six Algerian and Tunisian journalists came to the Jewish state as guests of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, following an invitation by Hassan Kaabiya, the country’s deputy spokesman for Arab media. The writers plan to meet with senior Israeli officials of the Foreign Ministry, the Supreme Court and the Knesset.

On Monday, the delegation visited Jerusalem’s Old City, the Temple Mount and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum.

This is the sixth such initiative to bring Arab-language journalists to experience Israel first-hand. In Nov. 2016, seven Moroccan writers were condemned by Palestinian terror group Hamas for participating in a similar weeklong trip.