Bashir Goth is in the unusual position of serving as a diplomat from a place that almost no one else in the world considers a country. That changed last month, when Israel became the first state to formally recognize Somaliland as an independent nation. 

That gives Goth an opening he has been seeking since he arrived in Washington in 2018: a chance to try to convince the United States to now follow Israel’s lead and recognize the independence of Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia that has governed itself for 35 years. 

“Our friends will be more active now, more vigorous, more encouraged by the Israeli recognition,” Goth told Jewish Insider in an interview on Wednesday. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visited Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, for a meeting on Tuesday with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi. Goth is hoping to capitalize on the rare occurrence of Somaliland being in the news, in part by attempting to rally American Jews to his cause. 

“We always built very strong relations and engagements with Jewish organizations in Washington, D.C., and they are more active now, more than any time before,” said Goth. “I think they will also be very, very helpful in pushing this forward.” 

Major American Jewish organizations, however, have not weighed in on Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland, except for a post on X by AIPAC that took aim at Qatar for criticizing Israel’s actions. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has urged American recognition of Somaliland, but President Donald Trump said this week that he would not do so. 

Goth, ever the diplomat, did a close read of Trump’s comments and held tight to one sentence that gave him hope — Trump told The New York Post last month that he would “study” the matter.

“Regarding President Trump, I think if you look at the end, at the last sentence of his statement, with that interview, he said, ‘At the end of the day, I study everything,’” Goth said. 

Washington considers Somaliland part of Somalia, a policy in keeping with the African Union and the United Nations. And while geopolitics factor into Goth’s pitch — he suggests that a Somaliland aligned with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and the U.S. could be a bulwark to China, Turkey and Somalia — his message to American officials is all about politics.

“The Somaliland story always resonated with the Republican community here in Washington, D.C., and in America, because it’s a country that has built itself from ruins, from rivers, to what it is now — its democracy and infrastructure — by its own resources, ‘by its bootstraps,’ as the Americans say,” said Goth. “We will be part of contributing to the prosperity and peace that the current American government is looking for.”

News reports last year suggested that Israel had approached Somaliland officials about the prospect of relocating Palestinians from Gaza, which Somaliland has denied. Goth called it a “false statement.” 

Israel has sought ties with Somaliland in part because of its strategic proximity to Yemen, which could offer Israel a better position from which to attack the Iran-aligned Houthis. Deqa Qasim, the director of the political department in Somaliland’s Foreign Ministry, told Israel’s N12 on Thursday that Jerusalem and Hargeisa were discussing setting up an Israeli military base in the African territory, contradicting a previous denial that such an agreement was on the table. Goth would not say whether Somaliland had agreed to allow Israel to do so, but he did not deny it.

“There’s nothing that says we cannot have a security pact or agreement with Israel, and I can leave it like that,” he said.

Israeli recognition of Somaliland, home to 6 million people, also allows Goth to make the case that Israeli prosperity could be a beacon for Somaliland — an example, perhaps, of making the desert bloom.

“We could be the Singapore of the Horn of Africa, if we are given the chance. And there is no better example to look at than Israel. And what you achieved in Israel. To have our recognition from Israel will open that prosperity, I think, for us, in technology [and] agriculture,” Goth said. “That would be, actually, a role model for us.”

Some Republicans and at least one Democrat on Capitol Hill are voicing their support for the U.S. to follow Israel’s lead in recognizing Somaliland — but many lawmakers, even some who have supported expanded U.S.-Somaliland ties in the past, say such a step would be premature, if not misguided, at this point.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), one of the most vocal pro-Israel Democrats in Congress, said in a statement to Jewish Insider that he’s in favor of U.S. recognition of Somaliland, making him the first member of his party to do so publicly.

“As an unapologetic friend of Israel, I fully support their decision on Somaliland. I support the U.S. doing the same,” Fetterman told JI. 

“Recognizing Somaliland isn’t charity — it’s strategy. It aligns with America’s security interests and the ‘America First’ doctrine by strengthening an ally that shares our values in a region vital to global trade and counterterrorism,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in a statement on Monday.

Cruz has been a longtime champion for Somaliland recognition, urging the administration to take such a step last August in a letter to President Donald Trump.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee on Africa, praised Israel in a statement on Tuesday for recognizing Somaliland and urged others, including the U.S., to do the same.

“Somaliland is a functioning democracy, as demonstrated by the peaceful transfer of power more than a year ago following elections — a rare, positive example in the Horn of Africa, and, indeed, in much of Africa,” Smith said. “Somaliland’s strategic location and deep-water port at Berbera also underscore its national security significance to the United States. And Somaliland’s close ties with Taiwan offset Communist China’s malign influence in the region … Above all, official recognition signals to the Somaliland people that their commitment to democracy — and to free and fair elections — is not in vain, and their nation is getting the acknowledgment it deserves.”

Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Pat Harrigan (R-NC) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI) introduced a bill last June to recognize Somaliland’s independence. Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and John Rose (R-TN) have since joined as cosponsors.

Still, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said that U.S. recognition would be either premature or a mistake entirely.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told JI that he didn’t support the idea “yet,” citing issues the U.S. has had with recognizing still-developing nations. “I’m still deciding on that. I was just in the region not long ago on that. I don’t share their [the Israelis’] recognition of it yet, but it is one I’m actually looking at,” Lankford told JI. 

Lankford also pointed to issues that experts have raised around the need for continued positive relations with Somalia, which opposes Somaliland independence, as it pertains to regional stability and counterterrorism efforts.

“We’ve done a lot to try to stabilize Somalia over the years, which has just been a hot mess for a very long time. We need their country to be a stable country. Al-Shabaab has been a major threat of terrorism in the entire region. The work they [Somalia] have done has destabilized Kenya, a close ally of ours,” Lankford said. “There’s a lot that we’re trying to be able to work with the countries in the region on what they’re going to do. You don’t want to see Somalia collapse. You want to see Somalia succeed. We want successful democracies there, and I think Somaliland has struggled with that.” 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that the U.S. should examine the issue but that it has other considerations to take into account that Israel may not.

“We should take a close look at it, but I don’t know that we should be the second in the world to do it,” Blumenthal said. “I think that Israel’s reasons for recognition, while deserving of respect, probably are different from what ours should be.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), a lead sponsor of legislation in 2022 that sought to expand U.S. ties with Somaliland — but explicitly stopped short of recognizing Somaliland’s independence or establishing a relationship with Somaliland as an independent entity — said that U.S. recognition would be premature.

“There are some diplomatic issues that have to play out there yet. I’m not sure how that’s going to look when it’s all done,” Rounds said. “I’m aware of what [Israel has] done, but I’m not exactly sure what the next steps will be, so I really can’t give you a whole lot of information right now, that I can share publicly anyway.”

Parts of that legislation were adopted as part of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, directing a report and feasibility study on existing and potential greater collaboration with Somaliland.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), another lead sponsor of the bill with Rounds, said the U.S. should not recognize Somaliland’s independence.

“I think the United States should be engaged with people throughout Somalia, including Somaliland,” Van Hollen said. “It continues to be part of Somalia. And I don’t think that the United States should be essentially getting in the middle of that.”

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also sponsored the 2022 bill on expanded ties. Risch did not respond to a request for comment.

Multiple other senators indicated to JI that they hadn’t followed the issue closely enough to weigh in.

Other prominent lawmakers on the Hill have also called for steps to deepen the U.S.-Somaliland relationship without endorsing full recognition of its independence.

Smith and Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), the chair of the House Select Committee on China, urged the administration in September to distinguish Somaliland from Somalia in its travel advisory report, a step toward expanding relations with Somaliland and incentivizing U.S. investors to enter its market.

That letter also noted that Somaliland is working with U.S. partners including Israel and Taiwan.

Moolenaar in January 2025 urged the State Department to open a representative office in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Dating back to 2022, bipartisan members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, including the committee’s former chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), have called for expanded ties with Somaliland.

Beyond Capitol Hill, analysts and former military personnel say the question of U.S. recognition hinges on a complex tradeoff: potential military and geopolitical gains weighed against the risk of destabilizing existing alliances and inflaming regional tensions.

Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan (Ret.), who served as commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and the 32-nation Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East, told JI that an expanded American presence in Somaliland could carry military benefits – from greater access to the Red Sea to deeper cooperation on counterterrorism – in what he described as a “critical choke point” in the world.

“Having options is always good for the military,” Donegan said, pointing to concerns about ISIS and broader counterterrorism efforts in the region. “When you look at the region in general, we are worried about ISIS and doing counterterrorism operations when necessary, or at least collecting information and maybe empowering other nations to help in this anti-terrorism fight.” 

He added that “it’s always better to have more places that you have access to and more governments that are going to work with you against counterterrorism.”

Another factor potentially shaping U.S. thinking is growing Chinese influence in Africa, according to Donegan. “We all know that Chinese influence exists in Africa,” he said, adding that expanded engagement in Somaliland could provide Washington with “options” to push back against Beijing’s footprint on the continent.

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who supports a U.S. move to recognize Somaliland, said that the east African nation’s capital city and Berbera port “could be very useful.”

“The U.S. would have a great deal of freedom of action in a landmass and coastline with potential strategic significance, close to Yemen, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and not far from Iran,” said Fitton-Brown. “In my opinion, the U.S. should recognize [Somaliland].”

Donegan, however, stopped short of endorsing formal recognition, instead suggesting that it may not be necessary to “unlock” military and geopolitical benefits in the region. 

“Ensuring that what’s in the best interests of the United States for helping to create stability in the region is the number one predominant thing that we should look at, as opposed to adding another issue that’s relatively charged to the plate,” he said. “Some of these things, including access to the port in Berbera and access to helping their forces, potentially can be worked out without declaring Somaliland independent.”

Donegan also warned that recognition risked adding to regional instability. He pointed to the complex regional dynamics involving Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two U.S. partners whose growing policy differences include whether to support Somaliland. The UAE has quietly supported Somaliland’s de facto independence, while Saudi Arabia has strongly backed Somalia’s territorial integrity. 

“The harder problem is, does [recognition] make [the U.S.] aligned or misaligned with regional allies?” he said. “As a country, the United States is very much supportive of the Emiratis and very much supportive of the work they’re doing, and very much supportive of the Saudis and the work they’re doing, and we wouldn’t want to pick sides between those, and that’s where it starts to get complex.”

Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told JI that geopolitical concerns among Middle East partners are a possible reason that the Trump administration has thus far refrained from formal recognition.

“It is unclear to me exactly why President Trump is opposed to recognition of Somaliland, but I surmise it has to do with Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia — four countries that are important to U.S. foreign policy,” said Cook. “The Qataris and Turkey are invested heavily in Somalia and as a result, are likely concerned about an Israeli partner next door and an Israeli presence in the Red Sea.” 

Cook added that Egypt is likely “worried that the Israelis will forcibly relocate Gazans [in Somaliland],” despite calling such a move “unlikely.”

As U.S. officials weigh whether to follow in Israel’s lead, Fitton-Brown said there is “talk of other states,” such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, the UAE and India, moving towards recognition of Somaliland, which could “put the issue more firmly on the U.S. radar screen.” 

When Israel announced the day after Christmas that it would formally recognize Somaliland, making it the first country in the world to announce formal diplomatic relations with the secessionist region in the Horn of Africa, even some of Washington’s foremost foreign policy experts were sheepishly asking the same question: What, exactly, is Somaliland? 

There was no single event that led to Israel’s choice to recognize the sovereignty of Somaliland, which announced its independence from Somalia in 1991. The territory has functioned independently for 35 years; nothing in its governance changed last year. 

What changed was Israel — and its geopolitical calculus regarding regional security threats. 

“The Houthis didn’t used to fire missiles at Israel. That’s new, and Israel’s now trying to respond to a new situation,” said David Makovsky, the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “I have no doubt that this was driven by how to try to neutralize a threat from the Houthis that Israel takes very seriously.” 

Somaliland sits just across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, from which the Iran-backed Houthis have fired drones and ballistic missiles at Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in 2023. Allying with Somaliland could allow Israel to target the Yemeni militia from much closer range. Israel has also reportedly approached Somaliland about resettling Palestinians from Gaza there, although officials in the country have denied that such conversations took place. 

Somaliland also sits in a strategic location south of Djibouti and to the east of Ethiopia, and its coastland is close to where the Indian Ocean and Red Sea meet, making it a prime shipping location. 

“No one can ignore the strategic location of Somaliland,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told The Wall Street Journal. “The straits are a strategic point.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visited Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, on Tuesday to meet with President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi. It was the first visit by a foreign minister to Somaliland in its more than three decades of existence as a self-governing entity. 

The key question is whether Jerusalem’s recognition of Somaliland will prompt similar moves by other nations. Somalia, with which Israel does not have diplomatic nations, has slammed the move. The African Union on Tuesday called for Israel to walk back its recognition, saying the move “represents an unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign Member State of the United Nations.” 

But even as Israel faces diplomatic pushback even from allied African nations, it has created an opening for Somaliland to press its case internationally. 

The region was a separate entity from Somalia beginning in the 19th century, when it was controlled by the British — in contrast to present-day Somalia, which was previously ruled by Italy. Today Somaliland is home to 6 million people, and it has held democratic elections throughout the past two decades. 

Washington has not recognized Somaliland, and a State Department spokesperson told Jewish Insider on Tuesday that no such announcement is forthcoming. 

“The United States continues to recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia, which includes the territory of Somaliland,” the spokesperson said. 

But at an emergency United Nations Security Council hearing last week, Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy representative to the U.N., defended Israel’s right to conduct diplomacy, and she called out the body’s “persistent double standards” in treating the recognition of Somaliland as different from states that have unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.

“The Americans are engaging with the country. How quickly they move to recognize Somaliland, I don’t know,” said Max Webb, a Horn of Africa expert who works at Israel Policy Forum. “Somaliland has been a fixture of Republican politics.” 

“Israel has the same right to conduct diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state,” said Bruce. “Earlier this year, several countries including members of this council made the unilateral decision to recognize a non-existent Palestinian state, and yet no emergency meeting was called to express this council’s outrage.” 

Even though Washington does not recognize Somaliland, the region has a small diplomatic mission in the United States. In December, the top U.S. military official overseeing the Africa Command visited Somaliland and met with Abdullahi, its president.

“The Americans are engaging with the country. How quickly they move to recognize Somaliland, I don’t know,” said Max Webb, a Horn of Africa expert who works at Israel Policy Forum. “Somaliland has been a fixture of Republican politics.” 

The conservative Heritage Foundation first called for U.S. recognition of Somaliland in 2021. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) threw his support behind recognition last August, and he said in a post on X on Monday that Somaliland recognition “aligns with America’s security interests.” President Donald Trump told The New York Post in December that he wasn’t yet ready to recognize Somaliland but that he will “study” the issue. “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump said.

Taiwan, which is not a United Nations member state, has a representative office in Somaliland, but it has not formally recognized Somaliland as an independent state. A handful of regional powerhouses, including Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates, also have strong economic relationships with Somaliland. They have yet to establish full diplomatic ties, although Somaliland and Ethiopia — the second most populous nation in Africa — signed a major memorandum of understanding in 2024. There are larger geopolitical factors at play: Egypt is closely aligned with Somalia, while Egypt and Ethiopia have long been at odds over an Ethiopian hydroelectric project on the Nile River. Turkey and Qatar, both of which are close to Mogadishu, condemned Israel’s actions.

Somalia is a key counterterrorism partner for the U.S., particularly as the Islamist group al-Shabab has grown and become more deadly alongside a Somali affiliate of ISIS. Some worry that U.S. recognition of Somaliland could hamper that coordination. 

“Somaliland is on the map,” said Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “People who had never heard of Somaliland a week ago are suddenly reading up on its history and understanding its arguments.”

“I’m sure there are other countries as well beyond the U.S. that worry if they recognize Somaliland, then Somalia will have a full meltdown and will cut off counterterrorism cooperation, for instance, and then al-Shabab will make even further gains,” said Joshua Meservey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who has called for U.S. recognition of Somaliland. “Somalia’s dysfunction almost protects it, in a way, from Somaliland gaining wider recognition.” 

Over the past 10 days, no other states have followed Israel’s lead. But a diplomatic crisis has not emerged, at least not yet — and now, Somaliland is part of the global conversation in a serious way for the first time since it declared independence.

“Somaliland is on the map,” said Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “People who had never heard of Somaliland a week ago are suddenly reading up on its history and understanding its arguments.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar made a historic diplomatic visit to Somaliland on Tuesday, marking the first official trip by an Israeli Cabinet minister to the territory and the latest move to strengthen bilateral ties following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland’s independence last month.

In the capital city of Hargeisa, Sa’ar met with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, with both sides pledging to open embassies in the near future. Somaliland’s foreign ministry said the two delegations held “constructive discussions on strengthening bilateral relations,” focusing on cooperation in diplomacy, security, trade and investment, as well as regional peace and stability.

Sa’ar’s visit came after Israel became the first country to formally recognize Somaliland since it announced its independence from Somalia in 1991, a move that elevated long-standing quiet engagement into an open diplomatic partnership. No other U.N. member state has formally recognized Somaliland as an independent country, despite its functioning as a de facto state with its own government, elections and security forces for more than three decades. 

The trip also drew criticism from regional and international actors, particularly Somalia, which considers Somaliland an integral part of its sovereign territory and rejects its independence. Somalia’s foreign ministry condemned Sa’ar’s visit in a statement released Tuesday, calling it an “unauthorized entry.”

Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdisalam Dhaay also convened what he described as an “emergency virtual session” of the African Union Peace and Security Council to address what he called “developments affecting Somalia’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” while rejecting what the government characterized as “external interference.”

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has also stirred unease across parts of the Arab and Muslim world. Qatar and 21 other countries in the region, including Jordan, Egypt and Iran, issued a joint statement last month expressing their “unequivocal rejection” of the move.

Supporters of recognition argue that Somaliland’s stability and democratic governance distinguish it from other states and its positioning would provide key benefits for pro-Western countries in a volatile region — including strategic access to the Gulf of Aden, which sits across parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthis.

In a post on X on Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said recognition of Somaliland “isn’t charity.” 

“It aligns with America’s security interests and the ‘America First’ doctrine by strengthening an ally that shares our values in a region vital to global trade and counterterrorism,” Cruz wrote.

However, President Donald Trump has thus far downplayed the prospect of the United States following Israel’s lead.

“Somaliland has every moral and legal claim to nationhood status as the successor state to British Somaliland, which was granted independence in 1960 and has functioned as a de facto independent democracy since 1991,” said Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in a brief released Tuesday.

“The truth is that Turkey, Egypt, and a coalition of Sunni Muslim countries will always corral global Islamist opposition to anything that benefits Israel,” Fitton-Brown added. “These voices should be ignored, and the United States should itself recognize Somaliland.”

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has stirred unease across parts of the Arab and Muslim world, challenging regional power dynamics as Jerusalem moves first in a strategically sensitive corner of the Horn of Africa.

Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland on Friday, 34 years after the democratic, pro-Western state declared its independence from Somalia. The move puts Israel at odds with a number of Arab and Muslim nations including Qatar, a major power broker in Somalia and a key mediator in regional conflicts, at a time when Washington is seeking to expand the Abraham Accords and manage competing Arab interests in the Horn of Africa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar signed a document establishing full diplomatic relations between the countries which affirms that they have “shared values, strategic interests and the spirit of mutual respect that binds our peoples,” and that “this relationship will contribute to advancing peace, stability, and prosperity in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and beyond.”

The Prime Minister’s Office described the recognition as being “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President [Donald] Trump,” and Netanyahu told Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi that he would “communicate to President Trump your willingness and desire to join the Abraham Accords.”

However, Trump has largely dismissed the idea that the U.S. would follow suit at this juncture, saying it is “under study.” 

“Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump told The New York Post. 

Somalia is a member of the Arab League, joining in 1974 as the first non-Arab nation due to strong cultural, religious and historical ties. Somalia also holds a crucial geopolitical location for global trade. 

Somalia has served as a proxy battleground for broader regional power struggles, with influential Middle Eastern states supporting different factions and projects. 

Qatar has sought to establish itself as a dominant influence and key mediator in Somalia, supporting the central government and pouring resources into the country for over a decade. 

“Want another reason to back Somaliland? Qatar — the Muslim Brotherhood’s biggest bankroller — backs the other side,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz said.

On Saturday, the Qatari government released a statement rejecting “the announcement of mutual recognition between the Israeli occupation authorities and the Somaliland region,” and “any attempts aimed at establishing or imposing parallel entities that would undermine the unity of Somalia.” Doha also said in the statement that  it would be “more appropriate” for the Jewish state to “recognize the State of Palestine.” 

Qatar also released a statement with 21 Arab and Muslim countries — including Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and “the State of Palestine” — “stressing their unequivocal rejection of Israel’s recognition of the Somaliland region.” 

Recognizing Somaliland is also a way of positioning Israel against Qatar, as Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz pointed out: “Want another reason to back Somaliland? Qatar — the Muslim Brotherhood’s biggest bankroller — backs the other side.” 

An official Somaliland X account posted that “Doha has no business meddling in Somaliland’s affairs while bankrolling Muslim Brotherhood proxies to prop up Mogadishu’s failed regime. … Foreign powers parroting Mogadishu’s line can shove their hypocrisy. Our future is ours—not dictated by Qatar’s Islamist agenda.” 

Egypt and Turkey, both close allies of Somalia, have also condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Saudi Arabia, a country that holds a more moderate posture toward the Jewish state but has expressed reticence to establish relations with it, is reportedly less likely to normalize ties with Israel due to the recognition of Somaliland, according to Israel’s Channel 12. 

The UAE, in contrast, has nurtured a close relationship with Somaliland, a factor that may have encouraged Jerusalem in its move to recognize the African state, though Abu Dhabi has not yet recognized Somaliland, Asher Lubotzky, a researcher at the Israel-Africa Relations Institute, wrote.

Sa’ar said in a statement that relations between the two countries grew over the course of the last year, and that they will exchange ambassadors and open embassies. Israel and Somaliland also plan to cooperate in the fields of agriculture, health and technology, the Prime Minister’s Office stated.

Israeli and Somaliland officials have reportedly held secret meetings over the course of the past several months. The president of Somaliland has met with Netanyahu and Sa’ar, as well as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Netanyahu invited him for another visit. 

“Somaliland could serve as a forward base for a range of missions,” Asher Lubotzky, a researcher at the Israel-Africa Relations Institute, wrote in a paper published last month, “intelligence collection and monitoring of the Houthis and their military buildup; logistical support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government in its war against the Houthis; and direct operations, from offensive actions to intercepting Houthi attacks at sea or by UAVs.”

In a paper published by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies a month before Israel recognized Somaliland, Lubotzky wrote that the African state’s “security importance for Israel has become even more pronounced over the past two years.” 

Somaliland is strategically located for Israel, across the Gulf of Aden from parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, who have frequently attacked Israel over the past two years.  

“Somaliland could serve as a forward base for a range of missions,” Lubotzky wrote, “intelligence collection and monitoring of the Houthis and their military buildup; logistical support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government in its war against the Houthis; and direct operations, from offensive actions to intercepting Houthi attacks at sea or by UAVs.”

The growing number of countries recognizing a Palestinian state also may have curbed Israel’s former reluctance to recognize secessionist states out of a concern that it could set a precedent for supporting Palestinian statehood, Lubotzky noted.

Earlier this year, reports indicated that Somaliland could be open to accepting Palestinian refugees from Gaza, as President Donald Trump expressed support for relocation from the enclave to enable reconstruction efforts. Recent reports suggest this idea has resurfaced and may factor into any emerging arrangement between Israel and Somaliland. 

The European Union released a statement that it “reaffirms the importance of respecting the unity, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia … This is key for the peace and stability of the entire Horn of Africa region.” 

The African Union has declined to formally recognize Somaliland in the past, citing concerns that doing so could set a precedent for secession across the continent and trigger wider instability.