Breaking: Muslim Country Opens its First Embassy in Israel

Chad is one of the world’s poorest countries and stands to benefit tremendously from its relationship with the Jewish State

By Nosson Shulman: Licensed Tour Guide of VIP Israel Tours & Authentic Virtual Tours (click here to check out his free trailer videos)

In the latest major diplomatic victory for Israel, the Republic of Chad has opened its first embassy in Israel. The landlocked African nation of 17 million has a Muslim majority. The inauguration ceremony in Ramat Gan was attended by both President Deby of Chad (who arrived especially for this) and Prime Minister Netanyahu. At the event, Netanyahu (who has made building strong relationships with African, Arab and Muslim countries the keystone of his foreign policy) said, “We are strengthening our friendship and our common interests in pursuing peace, security and prosperity”.

From 1961 until 1972 the two countries had full diplomatic relationships. However, during the Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973, the vast majority of sub-Saharan African nations severed all relations with the Jewish State, and Chad was no exception. In 2019, Israel and Chad reestablished full diplomatic relations.

For well over a decade Netanyahu has been broadening relations with the African continent, who are eager to benefit from Israel’s vital assistance in building their energy, technological, clean water, medical, security and agricultural infrastructure (indeed, the help from Israel has been a major game changer for several African nations). These efforts have paid off In 2011, Ghana re-established relations with Israel. In 2016, Netanyahu became the first Israeli leader to visit Africa in over 50 years, including Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Two weeks after that trip, Guinea established full relations with the Jewish country. At the end of 2016, Jerusalem was chosen by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to be the first non-African state to host one of their seminars. In 2017, Netanyahu was invited to the ECOWAS annual summit (held in Liberia) and became the first non-African head of state to address the summit (which was attended by the heads of state of all 15 country members of ECOWAS). In 2018 Tanzania opened it’s first Embassy in Israel, while in 2019 Israel opened its first embassy in Rwanda. In 2020 Malawi recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and pledged to move their embassy to Jerusalem. As reported here, Equatorial Guinea followed suit in 2021. In 2022, Liberia pledged to open their first embassy in Israel’s eternal capital. Additionally, on July 22, 2021, the chair of the African Union granted Israel “Observer Status”. Today, at least 41 of the 46 sub-Saharan African countries have full diplomatic relations with the Jewish State.

Nosson Shulman is a journalist and Licensed Tour Guide in Israel specializing in Biblical tours. To allow tourists to experience Israel during the Corona era, he created the new hit Israel tour video series which brings Israel to the home of viewers by simulating actual tours. To check out his free sneak preview tour videos, click here. To view sample tour itineraries or to inquire about private tour opportunities with a personalized itinerary on your next trip to Israel, click here.

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