Israel’s Relations with the Anglophone West African States of Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone – From Independence to the Present

Abstract

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 42, 2, 2017 © The Maghreb Review 2017 This publication is printed on FSC Mix paper from responsible sources ISRAEL’S RELATIONS WITH THE ANGLOPHONE WEST AFRICAN STATES OF NIGERIA, GHANA, LIBERIA AND SIERRA LEONE – FROM INDEPENDENCE TO THE PRESENT MICHAEL B. BISHKU* Following its independence in 1948, Israel developed as a ‘garrison state’ seeking out friendly countries outside the West (its prime area of interest) and just beyond the hostile Arab world with which it could cooperate.1 While Israel had some limited success in Asia, it was disappointed in not being invited to the Afro-Asian conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. The outlook on the continent of Africa appeared to be more promising, first with Ethiopia under Emperor Haile Selassie (which joined Israel in the late 1950s and early 1960s in a ‘peripheral alliance’ including Turkey and Iran) and Liberia (which voted for the partition of Palestine in the United Nations in 1947) and continuing with Ghana, which received its independence from Great Britain in 1957 beginning a relatively quick process of decolonisation in Africa; those newly independent countries sought to create (often times from scratch) viable institutions, a situation in which Israel had some experience, though its financial resources were limited. In certain cases, relations with Israel was regarded as a means to distance themselves from the former colonial powers. Before concentrating specifically on Anglophone West Africa, it is best to review briefly Israel’s relations with the non-Arab countries of the African continent in general. Naomi Chazan divides Israel’s relations with those states into five periods: 1) The ‘Honeymoon’ (1956–1973), during which African countries were receptive to close ties with Israel due to the reasons mentioned above, but following the 1967 War, Israel gradually became more closely identified with the West as its occupation of Egyptian lands gave ammunition to Arab arguments that Israel’s actions were ‘imperialist’ in nature; 2) The ‘Emotional Formal Divorce’ (1973– 1982), during which time, in part in reaction to most African countries breaking off diplomatic relations in the midst of and following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Israel intensified its relationship with white-ruled South Africa; also, the Palestinian issue began to gain traction on the African continent while, surprisingly, bilateral economic interests persisted and the Israeli ‘defense establishment upgraded its presence on the continent’; 3) A ‘Very Limited and Gradual Formal Renewal of Ties’ (1982–1993), which was largely in reaction to both disillusionment with promises of assistance from the Arab states and a desire to improve relations with the United States. Such would be the case until the end of both the Cold War and of Apartheid in South Africa; 4) A ‘Renewal * Augusta University, Augusta, GA 1 Jacob Abadi, Israel’s Quest for Recognition and Acceptance in Asia (London, 2004), pp. xi– xvii. ISRAEL’S RELATIONS WITH THE ANGLOPHONE WEST AFRICAN STATES 139 or Establishment of Diplomatic Relations’ (1993–2013), during which time these ties were somewhat neglected by Israeli officials who were more concerned with expanding relationships with Asian counties, particularly China, India and new republics of the former Soviet Union, while at the same time, Israeli security firms and businessmen seeking mineral rights concessions took the initiative; and 5) the past few years, during which the countries of Africa have taken on greater political importance due in part to strains in relationships with Western European states preoccupied with instability in the Middle East and eager to bring a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also to mutual security concerns regarding the threat of Islamist radical activity. (One might begin this last period earlier than Chazan suggests; that is to say in 2009, with then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s trip to five African countries including Nigeria and Ghana – in part to counter an Iranian attempt to increase its influence on the continent of Africa.) Chazan concludes that despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued pronouncements that Israel is ‘coming back to Africa’, it never really left and that the new realpolitik governing Israeli-African relations may … entrench its opportunist securitybased bent…. [Given past history,] Israeli policy-makers have too frequently sacrificed long-term interests to short-term...