Israel’s many links to Africa should lead to closer ties
Israel and Africa are neighbours and our relations go back to the biblical time of Genesis.
The very beginnings of Jewish peoplehood began when Jacob and his sons wandered to Egypt — to Africa — and the story of our exodus has been a source of human inspiration and freedom for thousands of years.
In modern times, the vision for a Jewish state was connected from the start to Africa. Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, who posited the idea that Jews, too, should have our own homeland, also wrote in 1902 about African liberation: “There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy only a Jew can comprehend. This is the African question …
“I am not ashamed to say, though I may expose myself to ridicule for saying so, that once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.”
And it seemed natural, in the shadow of the Holocaust, that the newly founded, tiny state of Israel joined together with many independent African states and, led by then foreign minister Golda Meir to carry out Herzl’s dream, offered partnership in our shared post-colonial experiences.
Israeli experts in fields such as agriculture, education, homeland security, policing and community work were dispatched, working in dozens of countries across Africa. Leaders, officials and students visited Israel to see for themselves the success of these policies as carried out in Israel.
Geopolitics is a complicated thing and countries often get swept up beyond their individual interests. So it was when, in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, nearly every country in Africa broke off relations with Israel, under intense pressure from Arab states.
In recent years, Israel and nearly all African states have found our friendship renewed by a more measured analysis of interests and opportunities in a modern world.
This meeting of shared interests of peoples, not merely leaders, is exactly the crux of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to four countries in East Africa in July, the proposal of the president of Togo to organise an Israel-Africa security and development summit in Lomé next year and a special event planned next month on the sidelineS of the opening of the United Nations General Assembly to highlight Israel’s deepening relationship in innovation with countries across the continent.
These shared interests also offer significant opportunities for South Africa. Israel’s world-renowned experience in defeating drought has created more water solutions for both Israel and its neighbours. Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians all now have more water and, potentially, a new window for co-operation, not conflict.
Early this year, Israel and South Africa agreed on a work plan that included exploring possibilities for exchanging study visits by delegations of senior officials to exchange experience in water management in drought conditions. A few months later, our embassy hosted a week of events, with experts sharing water technology and management knowledge that is applicable to current challenges in Southern Africa.
We have also sponsored agricultural seminars in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, sharing Israel’s innovations and opportunities for partnership in ensuring food security and assisting emerging farmers. Similar events are being planned for Swaziland, Lesotho and other regions in South Africa in 2017.
Obviously, there are benefits for Israel in a deeper relationship with Africa. An open dialogue with countries in Africa allows for Israel’s repeated call for immediate, direct peace negotiations with our Palestinian neighbours to be heard more clearly.
Nearly every country, large and small, looks to develop trade and other interests in Africa. That is good for both Africans and for people around the world.
Israel is no different in looking to find benefits as well as to offer meaningful co-operation.
Israel should, of course, be an