Avocado brings Somalia together with Israel! by Khalid Hassan Yusuf

05:37 PM June, 01 2026

Sudanese Online
خالد حسن يوسف-الصومال
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During the past decades, the Israeli government was able to penetrate the African continent, politically and economically, and established diplomatic relations with many African countries. This was due to the absence of Arab and Islamic diplomacy in that arena, which for a long time remained supportive of Arab issues and Palestine.

Kenya is considered one of the African countries that Israel has focused on since 1963, and relations between them have witnessed remarkable growth at the political, diplomatic, economic, cultural, and security levels over the past decades, which has strengthened the strategic partnership between them.
It is currently working to pave the way for creating a reality of economic normalization between Somalia and Israel.

Tel Aviv has focused on the importance of economic investment in Kenya, especially in the agricultural sector, which represents a fertile and investmentable environment, and the avocado cultivation project by Israel came in that context, which is exported to Europe, North America, and the Middle East in particular, not to mention its export to East Africa itself.

Given that avocados go beyond an agricultural product and represent an entry point to the diplomatic and political polarization that Tel Aviv gives importance to, Kenya, which organized the 2026 African Avocado Conference, brought together the Somali Ambassador Jibril Ibrahim Abdullah and the Israeli Gideon Bahar in Nairobi.
This is after the Somali embassy in Nairobi responded to the invitation to the conference in Kenya, which represents a diplomatic and economic forum.

This event comes in light of a state of extreme political tension between Somalia and Israel against the backdrop of Tel Aviv’s recognition of the breakaway canton in northwestern Somalia, which represents a violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and a direct measure to fragment its political unity and security.

Naturally, the Somali ambassador to Kenya picked up a political signal coming from Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who used an existing mosque in the Somali presidential headquarters as a platform to direct his ongoing political messages to Somalis. He stated in his sermon, which he delivered on Friday, May 29, 2026, that he does not reject the presenceThis reference came in the context of his condemnation of Israel and the separatist canton in northwestern Somalia, and his statement of the illegitimacy of relations between them and his talk about the nature of the Israeli occupation entity.

That signal issued by President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud was picked up by Jibril Ibrahim Abdullah, his ambassador in Nairobi, and what is certain is that the statement issued by the Somali president and an action taken by his envoy in Nairobi came days after the statement of US President Donald Trump, who had stated that the United States would not currently recognize the separatist canton in northwestSomalia.

Based on these data, there are political indicators that confirm that Mogadishu wants to pre-empt American recognition of the Somali separatists, and is witnessing a state of political confusion over how to deal with the new Israeli presence in Somalia, which explains President Hassan Sheikh’s statement that he does not reject the Israeli presence and that his ambassador in Kenya met the Israeli economic conference in Political tension remained between Somalia and Israel, confirming the Mogadishu government's efforts to normalize relations with Tel Aviv, under the pretext of protecting Somalia’s sovereignty and cutting off the Hargeisa separatists!

These political developments come in light of the state of tension and controversy prevailing in the Somali street regarding the illegality of opening an embassy for the separatists in the city of Jerusalem, which the Israeli occupation has taken as its capital, which has received widespread disapproval in Islamic, Arab and Somali circles.

Regarding the ongoing debate among Somali Islamists, we see that some of them do not object to recognizing Israel, while we find their objection to the establishment of an embassy or mission for the separatist canton in northwestern Somalia in Jerusalem.
Ironically, the importance of Jerusalem for these people goes beyond the necessity of Somalia’s political unity!

Khalid Hassan Yusuf

Arabic Forum