Somalis burning the Israel flag and a poster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a demonstration in protest of Israel's recognition of Somaliland. — Reuters
ISRAEL’S recognition of Somaliland on Dec 30 is not merely a diplomatic provocation – it is a direct assault on the international rules based order and a breach of the UN Charter itself. Article 2(4) of the Charter prohibits any action that undermines the territorial integrity or political independence of a state, yet Israel has unilaterally recognised a breakaway region in open defiance of this principle.
The irony is staggering: Israel refuses to recognise Palestine – a state acknowledged by more than 130 countries and granted non-member observer status by the United Nations – yet it rushes to legitimise a secessionist territory thousands of kilometres away. A people under occupation, with internationally recognised borders and overwhelming global support, are denied statehood, while a breakaway region with no such standing is embraced.
This double standard exposes Israel’s move for what it is: not a principled stance on self determination, but a calculated geopolitical manoeuvre. It is geopolitical vandalism masquerading as diplomacy, executed with full awareness of the instability it will unleash across the Horn of Africa.
The motive behind this move is unmistakable. Israel seeks a hardened strategic foothold in one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors. Somaliland’s coastline overlooks the Bab al Mandab, the narrow strait through which global shipping flows into the Red Sea and onward to Israeli ports. Whoever influences this chokepoint gains leverage over global trade and regional security.
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is therefore not about supporting self determination; it is about securing a vantage point that can shape the economic and military balance of the entire region. It is part of its Greater Israel vision.
From Somaliland’s shores, Israel would sit directly opposite the Houthis in Yemen, separated only by a narrow stretch of sea. With Houthi forces increasingly targeting vessels linked to Israel or its allies, Somaliland offers Tel Aviv a forward operating position – a launchpad for surveillance, deterrence, and potentially military action. This is militarisation disguised as partnership.
Zionist Israel’s ambitions extend even further. A military base in Somaliland would serve as a new node in its long confrontation with Iran. Already it is doing everything it can to destabilise that nation. From the Horn of Africa, Israel could project power deeper into the region, disrupt Iranian networks, and expand its intelligence footprint. This is not a stabilising presence; it is the quiet expansion of a conflict that has already destabilised the Middle East.
Israel’s entry into the Horn will not bring peace – it will ignite every dormant fault line. Ethiopia and Eritrea, already burdened by decades of mistrust, will view Israel’s move as a threat to their own security. The Horn is a fragile mosaic of ethnic, political, and territorial tensions. External militarisation has never brought stability here; it has only accelerated fragmentation. Israel’s presence will most likely turn the region into yet another arena for proxy conflict.
Reshaping regional dynamics : Women waving Somali national flags in a protest after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland. — Reuters
The Sudan conflict is another front where Israel’s involvement will deepen the crisis. With the UAE already accused of supplying the RSF in its war against the national army, Israel’s recognition of Somaliland opens new pathways for coordination. Arms, intelligence, and logistics can now flow more easily, prolonging a war that has already devastated millions. This is not diplomacy; it is the engineering of state collapse.
The UAE’s fingerprints are unmistakable. Abu Dhabi has spent years carving out influence across the Horn, and facilitating Israel’s entry is simply the latest chapter in its regional power play. The UAE wants ports, bases, and leverage. Israel wants reach, surveillance, and strategic depth. Somaliland is the bargaining chip – and the Horn of Africa is the collateral damage.
Somaliland, for its part, believes it has struck gold. Recognition promises legitimacy, weapons, and an economic escape from decades of isolation. It sees Israel as a gateway to American support and a shift in the military balance with Somalia. But this short term gain comes with a far darker price: Somaliland was reportedly listed among the territories approached to accept Palestinians as part of the ethnic cleansing blueprint discussed in late 2023 and early 2024 by United States and Israeli officials. This was the same plan referenced in the leaked Israeli Intelligence Ministry document titled “Options for Gaza’s Future,” which proposed the “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians to third countries – a euphemism that fooled no one.
In Washington, the State Department quietly sounded out “willing partners” in Africa, and Somaliland’s name appeared on that list. The idea that a stateless, vulnerable region could be used as a dumping ground for a displaced and occupied population – a population being expelled in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition on forcible transfer – should alarm anyone who believes in justice. To participate in such a scheme would make Somaliland complicit in one of the gravest breaches of international law: the ethnic cleansing of an occupied people. This is not partnership; it is exploitation. Somaliland is not being courted for its potential – it is being recruited for its disposability.
Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan have issued predictable protests, but Israel knows these are symbolic gestures meant to placate domestic anger.
The real pushback must come from states with moral clarity and strategic foresight. Malaysia is one of them. It should rally like minded nations inside and outside the OIC to address the Somalia–Somaliland dispute at its root – and then press Somaliland to shut down Israel’s embassy before the Horn of Africa becomes the next front in a widening regional catastrophe.
Dr Abdul Latiff Mohd Ibrahim is head of the Research and Publications Division at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
