The breakaway state of Somaliland announced on Tuesday that it would be opening its embassy to Israel in the city of Jerusalem, joining only a handful of countries that have done so.
"I am pleased to announce that the Republic of Somaliland’s Embassy will be located in Jerusalem, Somaliland's ambassador to Israel," Mohammed Hagi said on the social media platform X. He said the move had reflected "growing friendship, mutual respect, and strategic cooperation " between Israel and Somalia.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has ruled itself since then, but no country in the world has recognised this except Israel.
Last December, Israel established diplomatic relations with Somaliland, with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visiting its capital, Hargeisa, in January.
The Israeli recognition was widely condemned around the world, with many countries saying that it undermined Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"Recognition of Somaliland is a highly sensitive issue both within Somaliland and across Somalia, seen by many as a further division of the Somali territories of the Horn of Africa," Nisar Majid, research director for the PeaceRep (Somalia) programme at the London School of Economics, told The New Arab last January.
Other Muslim countries have recognised Israel before, but Somaliland was only the second Muslim-majority entity to establish an embassy in Jerusalem, which is not recognised by the United Nations as Israel’s capital. Most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.
Kosovo, which is officially a secular state, established an embassy in Jerusalem in 2021.
Islam, however, is the state religion of Somaliland, with over 99% of the population Muslim and the Islamic faith deeply ingrained into laws, customs, and all aspects of life.
The Muslim shahada declaration of faith is featured prominently on the Somaliland flag.
The decision to open an embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, the eastern half of which was illegally occupied by Israel in 1967, sits oddly with Somaliland’s Islamic identity.
East Jerusalem is the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third most holy site, which is frequently stormed and attacked by Jewish extremists , under the protection of the Israeli army.
Since no other country besides Israel recognises it, Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem will be its only one in the world.
Many X users commented negatively on Hagi’s recognition announcement.
“Look at the absolute humiliation of this. While millions of people across Europe, America, and the global South are actively marching, boycotting, and severing ties with Israel, this desperate separatist enclave is sprinting in the exact opposite direction to build an embassy,” X user Malin Irab said.
Israel’s decision to recognise the breakaway territory is widely believed to be influenced by its strategic location on the Red Sea, near the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
During Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels closed the strait to ships they said were linked to Israel and began launching missile attacks at Israeli cities.
There has been speculation that Israel wishes to establish a military base in Somaliland – a development viewed with alarm by many countries in the region –, but Somaliland authorities have denied this. The New Arab reached out to both the Somaliland representative office in London and the Somali foreign ministry for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.