Stephen M. Greenberg, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Monday about the Jewish leaders’ recent visits to Turkey and Egypt.

Greenberg described the meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom Israel is trying to re-establish diplomatic ties, as a “bridge building meeting” and a “very good meeting”.

“[Erdogan] certainly indicated that there was a thaw in the relationship between Turkey and Israel, and he said the thaw would get a little warmer as time went on,” he added.

The meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was “eye opening”, Greenberg said.

“The meeting with President Sisi, to me, was something I had never envisioned,” he added. “[Sisi] was overtly clear about the strong ties between Israel and Egypt.”

The Egyptian president also replied “I’m in” when told about a possible Middle Eastern alliance involving Israel, Greece and Cyprus, said Greenberg.

The Egyptians were “overly gracious”, he continued, describing the Turkey meeting as “good” and the meeting with Sisi as “excellent”.

Greenberg called for more support for Sisi’s government by both Israel and the United States.

“I also think it would be very important for the American administration to welcome President Sisi at some point to the United States. That would be a major boost to them,” he added.

Greenberg said the United States should “exert whatever assets what we have” to have more influence on the Middle East.

“That was the message we got from both [Egypt and Turkey]. They really would like there to be a closer relationship between what’s going on in this part of the world and the United States of America.”