The Impact of the Gaza War on Israel’s Influence in Africa
2024-08-27496 view
Summary
Israel has adopted various strategies in its attempts to penetrate African societies, including diplomacy, trade, military aid and strategic assistance. Yet all this cooperation is unlikely to evolve into a comprehensive strategic and economic partnership, especially given Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 and African nations’ stances towards it. Indeed, African condemnation over the war is a telling indicator of the future course of Israeli-African relations, in which the Palestinian cause is a major determinant.
Despite the continent not adopting a common foreign agenda based on African values, such as African unity and solidarity, and resistance to occupation and racism, many factors have contributed to a reconfiguration of African positions on the Palestinian issue and the ways African countries use their clout vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue.
Introduction
In its quest to establish a presence and extend its influence across the African continent, Israel has adopted a number of policies, using a combination of soft power and a strategy of encirclement of its opponents, partly in order to confront its regional rivals—particularly Türkiye and Iran.
Israel’s strategic goals include gaining the support of African countries and influencing their voting behavior at international forums, limiting or neutralizing Arab capacities in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and ensuring Israel’s water security, in addition to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the eventual construction of a strategic base there to consolidate Israel’s regional hegemony.
Yet despite its efforts to gain support from African countries, Israel’s massacres in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 have constituted a turning point for many African countries, which have become more supportive of the Palestinian cause and have vociferously denounced Israel’s attacks. This culminated in South Africa’s request, on December 29, 2023, that the International Court of Justice initiate proceedings against Israel for suspected acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Conclusion
The war in Gaza Strip may constitute a turning point for Israeli relations with the African continent, casting doubt over its efforts at “normalization” and its drive to strengthen its political, economic and security presence there. While African nations have taken divergent positions on the war, some African capitals have been among the most vocal in the world in support of the Palestinian cause, in echoes of historical African struggles against European colonialism and Apartheid. Nowhere is this more starkly demonstrated than in the role of South Africa and its ICJ lawsuit against Israel.
To read the full report (in Arabic), click here.
