An emergency session of the UN Security Council on Monday, 29 December 2025, turned into a heated diplomatic battlefield as Israel defended its historic recognition of Somaliland, while African and Arab nations raised alarms over a potential “secret motive” involving the war in Gaza.
The session was called just three days after Israel became the first UN member state to formally recognize the breakaway region, a move that has upended decades of diplomatic “limbo” in the Horn of Africa.
Israel’s Deputy UN Ambassador, Jonathan Miller, dismissed claims that the recognition was an act of aggression against Somalia’s sovereignty.
Miller framed the move as an extension of Israel’s regional outreach, focusing on cooperation in agriculture, technology, and health.
Analysts note that a partnership with Somaliland grants Israel a strategic foothold near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to counter Houthi threats from Yemen.
Miller insisted the move was not “hostile” toward Mogadishu and does not preclude future dialogue between Somalia and its breakaway northern territory.
The most explosive claims during the session came from the A3+ bloc (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Guyana) and the Arab League, who suggested Israel’s recognition of the Berbera-based government is a “Trojan Horse” for its domestic crisis.
“We reject any attempt by Israel to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to the north-west region of Somalia… This utter disdain for law and morality must stop now.” – Abukar Dahir Osman, Somali UN Ambassador.
Critics fear Israel is scouting Somaliland as a destination for the “voluntary” or forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, a claim the Israeli mission declined to address directly during the council meeting.
Pakistan and the Arab League warned that the deal might involve the establishment of Israeli military bases in northern Somali ports, effectively “exporting Middle Eastern instability” to the Horn of Africa.
In a surprising twist, the United States defended Israel’s right to establish diplomatic ties, though it clarified that Washington’s own policy of recognizing Somalia’s territorial integrity remains unchanged.
Deputy U.S. Ambassador Tammy Bruce accused the council of hypocrisy:
“Earlier this year, several countries, including members of this council, made the unilateral decision to recognize a nonexistent Palestinian state, yet no emergency meeting was called… Israel has the same right to conduct diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state.”
Israel and Somaliland have announced they will immediately “institutionalize” ties, with an official visit by Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi to Jerusalem expected in early January 2026.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared the move “null and void” and is lobbying for an emergency African Union summit to sanction the breakaway region.
