Netanyahu

When Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited Somaliland on Tuesday, he became the first Israeli official to visit the breakaway republic since his country established full diplomatic relations with it in the closing days of last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the diplomatic recognition of Somaliland – a breakaway part of Somalia – on December 26. He said that the recognition was in keeping with “the spirit of the Abraham Accords”, referring to the United States-led initiative encouraging a number of Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel in return for diplomatic and financial concessions from the US.

But Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has prompted protests within Somalia and complaints from dozens of countries and organisations, including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and the African Union.

Meeting with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa on Tuesday, Saar told reporters that Israel had not been discouraged by criticism of its decision.

“We hear the attacks, the criticism, the condemnations,” he said. “Nobody will determine for Israel who we recognise and who we maintain diplomatic relations with.”

Hegemon

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland comes after more than two years of its genocidal war on Gaza, and attacks on regional countries, including Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Yemen, and Qatar.

Attacks on Lebanon continue, and there are new indications that Israel may be seeking to launch renewed attacks on Iran, its main regional nemesis.

Israel’s wars appear to be an attempt to portray itself – with US backing – as the regional hegemon, uninterested in compromising with its enemies.

Recognition of Somaliland, despite regional opposition, marks the latest part of that strategy.

And Israel has found a new ally in the Horn of Africa on the back of its decision.

Despite being self-governing for more than 30 years, Somaliland has failed to gain international recognition, despite maintaining its own currency, passport and army.

Recognition has been elusive, meaning that even if there are qualms from some over ties with Israel, many are willing to overlook them in the hope that this decision will pave the path for other countries to follow.

“Clans, militias and corruption have ruined Somalia,” Somali journalist and human rights activist Abdalle Mumin, who was previously imprisoned by his country’s authorities, told Al Jazeera, “At least in Somaliland they have achieved some kind of peace and stability.”

“Many hope that other countries will follow Israel,” Mumin continued.

Why has Israel recognised Somaliland?

Nevertheless, speculation over why Israel chose to recognise Somaliland has mounted since Netanyahu’s announcement, with analysts pointing to its strategic location at the crossroads between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Somaliland’s port of Berbera lies close to some of the world’s busiest maritime routes, which have come under attack over the past two years from Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement, a sworn enemy of Israel.

These were all factors in Israel’s recognition, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy said, acknowledging that the Netanyahu government also benefitted from preserving the suggestion that Somaliland may take in Palestinians forced out of Gaza.

However, Levy suspects Israel’s ambitions may be grander still, including increasing the country’s value to its chief sponsor, the US.

By securing an ally in a strategically important region,

The key dynamic, according to Levy, is momentum.

“If you set out to do something like this, you can’t just stop [at recognition],” he told Al Jazeera. “You have to keep taking steps: more aircraft, more presence, more moves. Once you’ve committed to this kind of game, you need to stay at the table.”

The timing of the move, shortly before Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on December 29, also held significance, Levy said.

Israel was trying to place itself more firmly on what it imagines Washington’s agenda to be, and how it imagines great power competition in the Horn of Africa, particularly with China, which maintains a base in neighbouring Djibouti, might play out.

“We’ve seen before that Israel can put something on the table and the Americans follow later,” he said.

Israel may be implicitly telling the US, “We’re active, and we’re positioned in a way that helps you. Having us there helps you.”

Momentum

According to many observers, the past two years of war have already fundamentally changed the nature of Israel, with the strain of its genocidal war on Gaza, plus news assaults upon its regional neighbours, leaving the country fractured, isolated and with the hard right firmly in the ascendancy.

How enthusiastic the country might be for additional adventures in the Horn of Africa, a region, according to many observers, that remains largely unknown to much of the Israeli public, is unclear.

“Israelis have no idea what or where Somaliland is. It’s a non-issue in Israel,” Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera.

“The first time the news came out, it was published alongside maps showing the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and its position across the Gulf of Aden. They had to show people where it was,” he said, dismissing the suggestion that Israel may ever station troops there.

“No, this is Netanyahu doing what he’s been doing ever since October 7, 2023: expanding the theatre of conflict,” he said. “Be that to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen or Iran. Now, it’s Somaliland. There’s no other rationale behind it. It’s about always moving forward.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached the end of his latest trip to the United States and appears to have gained what he wants from President Donald Trump.

Trump hailed Netanyahu after their meeting on Monday, calling him a “hero” and saying Israel – and by extension its prime minister – had “lived up to the plan 100 percent” in reference to the US president’s signature Gaza ceasefire.

That is despite reports emerging last week that US officials were growing frustrated over Netanyahu’s apparent “slow walking” of the 20-point ceasefire plan – imposed by the US administration in October – suspecting that the Israeli prime minister might be hoping to keep the door open to resuming hostilities against the Palestinian group Hamas at a time of his choosing.

Under the terms of that agreement – after the exchange of all captives held in Gaza, living and dead, aid deliveries into the enclave and the freezing of all front lines – Gaza would move towards phase two, which includes negotiations on establishing a technocratic “board of peace” to administer the enclave and the deployment of an international security force to safeguard it.

So far, Netanyahu has not allowed in all of the required aid that Gaza desperately needs and is also maintaining that phase two cannot be entered into until Hamas returns the body of the last remaining captive. He has also demanded that Hamas disarms before Israel withdraws its forces, a suggestion fully endorsed by Trump after Monday’s meeting.

Hamas has repeatedly rejected disarmament being forced upon it by Israel, and officials have said that the question of arms was an internal Palestinian matter to be discussed between Palestinian factions.

So is Netanyahu deliberately trying to avoid entering the second phase of the agreement, and why would that be the case?

Here are four reasons why Netanyahu might be happy with things just as they are:

He’s under pressure from his right

Netanyahu’s ruling coalition is, by any metric, the most right wing in the country’s history. Throughout the war on Gaza, the support of Israel’s hardliners has proven vital in shepherding the prime minister’s coalition through periods of intense domestic protest and international criticism.

Now, many on the right, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, oppose the ceasefire, protesting against the release of Palestinian prisoners and insisting that Gaza be occupied.

Netanyahu’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has also shown little enthusiasm for honouring the deal his country committed to in October. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the expansion of the latest of Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Katz claimed that Israel’s forces would remain in Gaza, eventually clearing the way for further settlements.

Katz later walked his comments back, reportedly after coming under pressure from the US.

He doesn’t want an international force in Gaza

Allowing an international force to deploy to Gaza would limit Israel’s operational freedom, constraining its military’s ability to re-enter Gaza, conduct targeted strikes or pursue Hamas remnants within the enclave.

So far, despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 people in the enclave since agreeing to halt fighting on October 10.

Politically, agreeing to an international stabilisation force, particularly one drawn from neighbouring states, would broaden what Israel has often seen as a domestic war into an international conflict with many of the strategic, diplomatic and political decisions over that conflict being made by actors outside of its control.

It could also be framed domestically as a concession forced by the US and international community, undermining Netanyahu’s repeated claims of maintaining Israeli sovereignty and strategic independence.

“If Netanyahu allows a foreign military force into Gaza, he immediately denies himself a large degree of his freedom to operate,” Israeli political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said from Berlin. “Ideally, he needs things to remain exactly where they are but without alienating Trump.”

He wants to resist any progress towards a two-state solution

While not explicitly mentioning a two-state solution, the ceasefire agreement does include provisions under which Israel and the Palestinians commit to a dialogue towards what it frames as a “political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence”.

Netanyahu, however, has been arguing against a two-state solution since at least 2015 when he campaigned on the issue.

More recently, at the United Nations in September, he branded the decision to recognise a Palestinian state “insane” and claimed that Israel would not accept the establishment of a Palestinian homeland.

Israeli ministers have also been at work ensuring that the two-state solution remains a practical impossibility. Israel’s plan to establish a series of new settlements severing occupied East Jerusalem – long considered the future capital of any Palestinian state – from the West Bank would make the establishment of a feasible state impossible.

This isn’t just an unfortunate consequence of geography. Announcing the plans for the new settlements in August, Smotrich said the project would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.

A resumption of war would benefit him

Netanyahu faces numerous domestic threats, from his own corruption trial to the potentially explosive issue of forcing conscription on Israel’s ultra-religious students. There is also the public reckoning he faces for his own failures before and during the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, all of which will fall within a critical election year for the prime minister.

Each of these challenges risks fracturing his coalition and weakening his hold on power. All of them, however, could be derailed – or at least politically blurred – by a new conflict either with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon or possibly even with Iran.

Renewed fighting would allow him to once more present himself as a wartime leader, limit criticism and rally both his allies and adversaries around the well-worn flag of “national emergency”.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, as Washington looks to create fresh momentum for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that could be in danger of stalling before a complicated second phase.

Trump could use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to try to leverage his strong relationship with Netanyahu and look for ways to speed up the peace process. Before that, Netanyahu met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.

The truce’s first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.

The Israeli leader has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza. Netanyahu’s office said he met with Gvili’s parents in Florida.

Now comes the next, far more complicated part. Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.

Iran and other topics likely to come up

The two leaders also are expected to discuss other topics, including Iran, whose nuclear capabilities Trump insists were “completely and fully obliterated” after U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites in June. Israeli officials have been quoted in local media as expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.

There are many key facets of the ceasefire’s second phase that Israel’s leader doesn’t support or has even openly opposed, said Mona Yacoubian, director and senior adviser of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“This is going to be a really tall order, I think, for President Trump to get Netanyahu to agree,” she said.

“How he does that, what kind of pressure he puts on Netanyahu, I think, is going to be important to watch for,” said Yacoubian, who also said the two could exhibit ”a broader clash of approaches to the region.”

Next phase is complex

If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.

It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world, and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.

The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been expected to be named by the end of the year and might even be revealed after Monday’s meeting, but the announcement could be pushed into next month.

Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House in his second term, but this will be their first in-person meeting since Trump went to Israel in October to mark the start of the ceasefire’s initial phase. Netanyahu has been to Mar-a-Lago before, including in July 2024 when Trump was still seeking reelection.

Much remains unsettled

Their latest meeting comes after U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, recently huddled in Florida with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.

Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.

Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday’s meeting is unclear.

A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force’s mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.

All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven’t been made public.

The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.

Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.

Questions about Gaza reconstruction

One displaced man in Khan Yunis, Iyad Abu Sakla, said Trump needed to urge Netanyahu to allow Palestinians to return to their homes. Under the agreement, most Palestinians are permitted in a zone just under half the size of Gaza.

“We are exhausted. This displacement is bad; it’s cold and freezing. Enough lying to us and enough insulting our intelligence,” Sakla said.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed neighborhoods across Gaza into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching in all directions.

Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are pressing for a negotiated deal on disarming Hamas and on additional Israeli withdrawal from Gaza before moving to next elements of the plan, including deployment of the international security force and reconstruction, three Arab officials said.

Three other officials, including two Americans, said the United Arab Emirates has agreed to fund reconstruction, including new communities, although they said plans have not been settled.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations between the various countries. The UAE did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Weissert, Mednick and Magdy write for the Associated Press. AP writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Lee Keath and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Dec. 29 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit with President Donald Trump Monday in Florida to discuss the peace plan with Gaza.

Netanyahu is also likely to lobby the president for help with Iran as it continues its work on nuclear weapons.

The meeting will happen at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. On Sunday, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the resort to continue working on a peace plan between Ukraine and Russia.

Local officials have said that more than 400 people have been killed in Gaza since the cease-fire, NBC News reported.

The Trump administration wants to see progress on the plan’s second phase in January. That means a Palestinian technocratic government would be created. Hamas would disarm, and the Israeli Defense Forces would pull out of Gaza.

But some believe that Netanyahu will stall the process and demand Hamas fully disarm before the IDF withdraws. Hamas has said it will disarm as progress moves toward an independent Palestinian state.

Netanyahu and his staff have repeatedly rejected Palestinian statehood since October.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said last week that Israel will build settlements in Gaza and “never fully withdraw” even as Hamas disarms, the BBC reported. This would violate the cease-fire agreement.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Netanyahu before Trump’s meeting.

Two other tenets of the cease-fire haven’t yet emerged: A “Board of Peace” led by Trump is planned for governance of Gaza, and the International Stabilization Force, led by the United Nations, which will help with peacekeeping in Gaza.

Rubio has said those measures will be in place “very soon.”

Israeli officials are concerned that Iran is moving forward with its plans for ballistic missiles, and Netanyahu is expected to discuss options with Trump at Monday’s meeting.

Israel damaged the operations in June, but it wants to attack again, NBC News reported.

Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu comes after he touted progress in achieving a resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United States to meet with President Donald Trump as regional turmoil approaches a boiling point amid Israel’s attacks in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria and mounting tensions with Iran.

Netanyahu is to hold talks with Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday as Washington pushes to complete the first phase of the Gaza truce.

The visit comes as the US continues to pursue its 20-point “peace plan” in the Palestinian enclave despite near-daily Israeli violations of the truce.

Israel is also escalating attacks in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Syria as Israeli officials suggest that another war with Iran is possible.

What will Netanyahu discuss with Trump, and where do US-Israel ties stand?

Al Jazeera looks at the prime minister’s trip to the US and how it may play out.

When will Netanyahu arrive?

The Israeli prime minister will arrive in the US on Sunday. However, the talks will not take place at the White House. Instead, Netanyahu will meet Trump in Florida, where the US president is spending the holidays.

The meeting between the two leaders is expected to take place on Monday.

How many times has Netanyahu visited Trump?

This will be Netanyahu’s fifth visit to the US in 10 months. The Israeli prime minister has been hosted by Trump more than any other world leader.

In February, he became the first foreign leader to visit the White House after Trump returned to the presidency.

He visited again in April and July. In September, he also met with Trump in Washington, DC, after the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

What has the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu been like so far?

Netanyahu often says Trump is the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House.

During his first term, Trump pushed US policy further in favour of Israel’s right-wing government. He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognised and claimed Israeli sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights and cut off funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Since returning to the White House this year, Trump has shown a greater willingness to publicly disagree with Netanyahu. Still, his administration has provided unflinching support for Israel, including the decision to renew the genocidal war on Gaza in March after a brief ceasefire.

Trump joined the Israeli attack on Iran in June to the dismay of some segments of his base. And he pushed to secure the current truce in Gaza.

The US president also opposed the Israeli attack on Doha in September. And he swiftly lifted sanctions against Syria despite some apparent Israeli reservations.

The ties between the two leaders have seen some peaks and valleys. In 2020, Trump was irked when Netanyahu rushed to congratulate Joe Biden on his election victory against Trump, who has falsely insisted the election was fraudulent.

“I haven’t spoken to him [Netanyahu] since,” Trump told the Axios news site in 2021. “F*** him.”

The strong ties between the two leaders were rekindled after Trump won the presidency again in 2024 and unleashed a crackdown on Palestinian rights activists in the US.

In November, Trump formally asked Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, who is facing corruption charges at home.

The two leaders, however, are not in complete alignment, and cracks in their positions are showing up over issues that include Gaza, Syria and the US partnerships with Turkiye and the Gulf states.

During his US visit, Netanyahu may seek to flatter Trump and project a warm relationship with the US president to advance his agenda and signal to his political rivals in Israel that he still enjoys support from Washington.

How has Netanyahu dealt with the US since October 7, 2023?

Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Netanyahu has asked for unchecked US diplomatic and military support.

Then-President Biden travelled to Israel 11 days after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, and he declared that support for the US ally is “vital for America’s national security”.

His “bear hug” of Netanyahu on arrival at the airport in Tel Aviv would set the stage for the US backing of Israel as it unleashed horror and destruction on Gaza, which has translated into more than $21bn in military aid and multiple vetoes at the UN Security Council over the past two years.

Netanyahu has seized on the notion that Israel is an extension of US interests and security structure. In a speech to the US Congress last year, the prime minister argued that Israel is fighting Iran indirectly in Gaza and Lebanon.

“We’re not only protecting ourselves. We’re protecting you,” he told US lawmakers.

Throughout the war, there have been countless reports that Biden and Trump have been displeased or angry with Netanyahu. But US weapons and political backing for Israel have continued to flow uninterrupted. And Netanyahu makes a point of always expressing gratitude to US presidents, even when there may be apparent tensions.

Where does the US stand on the Gaza truce?

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the top priority for the Trump administration is to complete the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire and move from mere cessation of hostilities to long-term governance, stabilisation and reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave.

Israel has been violating the ceasefire in Gaza regularly, recently killing at least six Palestinians in an attack that targeted a wedding.

But Trump, who claims to have brought peace to the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years, has focused on broadly moving the truce forward rather than on Israel’s daily conduct.

“No one is arguing that the status quo is sustainable in the long term, nor desirable, and that’s why we have a sense of urgency about bringing phase one to its full completion,” Rubio said last week.

The top US diplomat has also suggested that there could be some flexibility when it comes to disarming Hamas under the agreement, saying the “baseline” should be ensuring that the group does not pose a threat to Israel rather than removing the guns of every fighter.

But Israel appears to be operating with a different set of priorities. Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the country is looking to re-establish settlements in Gaza, which are illegal under international law.

He later walked back those comments but stressed that Israel would maintain a permanent military presence in the territory, which would violate the Trump plan.

Expect Gaza to be a key topic of discussion between Netanyahu and Trump.

Can a Syria agreement be reached?

Trump has literally and figuratively embraced Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa over the past year, lifting sanctions against the country and beginning security cooperation with his government’s security forces.

But Israel is pursuing its own agenda in Syria. Hours after the collapse of the government of former President Bashar al-Assad a year ago, Israel began expanding its occupation of Syria beyond the Golan Heights.

Although the new Syrian authorities stressed early on that they did not seek confrontation with Israel, the Israeli military launched a bombardment campaign against Syria’s state and military institutions.

Israeli forces have also been conducting raids in southern Syria and abducting and disappearing residents.

After the Israeli military killed 13 Syrians in an air raid last month, Trump issued a veiled criticism of Israel.

“It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous state,” he said.

Syria and Israel were in talks earlier this year to establish a security agreement short of full diplomatic normalisation. But the negotiations appeared to collapse after Israeli leaders insisted on holding onto the land captured after al-Assad’s fall.

With Netanyahu in town, Trump will likely renew the push for a Syria-Israel agreement.

Why is Iran back in the headlines?

Netanyahu’s visit comes amid louder alarm bells in Israel about Iran rebuilding its missile capacity after their 12-day war in June.

NBC News reported last week that the Israeli prime minister will brief the US president about more potential strikes against Iran.

The pro-Israel camp in Trump’s orbit seems to be already mobilising rhetorically against Iran’s missile programme.

US Senator Lindsey Graham visited Israel this month and called Iran’s missiles a “real threat” to Israel.

“This trip is about elevating the risk ballistic missiles pose to Israel,” Graham told The Jerusalem Post.

Trump authorised strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites during the June war, which he said “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear programme.

Although there is no evidence that Iran has been weaponising its nuclear programme, fears about a possible Iranian atomic bomb were the driving public justification for the US involvement in the conflict.

So it will be hard for Netanyahu to persuade Trump to back a war against Iran, said Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

The president is portraying himself as a peacemaker and prioritising a possible confrontation with Venezuela.

“It could just as well backfire on Netanyahu,” Toossi said of the push for more strikes against Iran. But he underscored that Trump is “unpredictable”, and he has surrounded himself with pro-Israel hawks, including Rubio.

What is the state of US-Israel relations?

Despite growing dissent on the left and right of the US political spectrum, Trump’s support for Israel remains unwavering.

This month, the US Congress passed a military spending bill that includes $600m in military aid to Israel.

The Trump administration has continued to avoid even verbal criticism of Israel’s aggressive behaviour in the region, including Gaza ceasefire violations and the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

At a White House Hanukkah celebration on December 16, Trump bemoaned the growing scepticism of unconditional support for Israel in Congress, falsely likening it to anti-Semitism.

“If you go back 10, 12, 15 years ago, at the most, the strongest lobby in Washington was the Jewish lobby. It was Israel. That’s no longer true,” Trump said.

“You have to be very careful. You have a Congress in particular which is becoming anti-Semitic.”

Despite Trump’s position, analysts said the gap between the strategic priorities of the US and Israel is growing.

While Washington is pushing for economic cooperation in the Middle East, Israel is seeking “total dominance” over the region, including US partners in the Gulf, Toossi said.

“Israel is pushing this uncompromising posture and strategic objective that I think is going to come to a head more with core US interests,” Toossi told Al Jazeera.

What’s next for the US-Israel alliance?

If you drive down Independence Avenue in Washington, DC, you will likely see more Israeli than American flags displayed on the windows of congressional offices.

Despite the shifting public opinion, Israel still has overwhelming support in Congress and the White House. And although criticism of Israel is growing within the Republican base, Israel’s detractors have been pushed to the margins of the movement.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is leaving Congress; commentator Tucker Carlson is facing constant attacks and accusations of anti-Semitism; and Congressman Tom Massie is facing a Trump-backed primary challenger.

Meanwhile, Trump’s inner circle is filled with staunch Israel supporters, including Rubio, megadonor Miriam Adelson and radio show host Mark Levin.

But amid the erosion of public support, especially among young people, Israel may face a reckoning in American politics in the long term.

On the Democratic side, some of Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress are facing primary challenges from progressive candidates who are centring Palestinian rights.

The most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is increasingly becoming a toxic brand for Democrats.

On the right, the faultlines in the consensus in support of Israel are growing wider. That trend was put on display at the right-wing AmericaFest conference this month when debates raged around support for Israel, a topic that was a foregone conclusion for conservatives a few years ago.

Although the Trump administration has been pushing to codify opposition to Zionism as anti-Semitism to punish Palestinian rights supporters, Vice President JD Vance has presented a more nuanced view on the issue.

“What is actually happening is that there is a real backlash to a consensus view in American foreign policy,” Vance recently told the UnHerd website.

“I think we ought to have that conversation and not try to shut it down. Most Americans are not anti-Semitic – they’re never going to be anti-Semitic – and I think we should focus on the real debate.”

Bottom line, the currents are changing, but the US commitment to Israel remains solid – for now.

Somalia’s president calls for unity at an emergency joint session of parliament, which declares the Israeli move ‘null and void’.

Somalia’s president has condemned Israel’s recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland as a “naked invasion”, warning that the move threatens to ignite separatist movements elsewhere.

Addressing an emergency joint session of parliament on Sunday, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has committed the “greatest abuse” of Somalia’s sovereignty in the nation’s history and referred to Israel as an “enemy”.

“I am encouraging the Somali people to be calm and to defend the unity and the independence of our country, which is facing this naked invasion,” he said.

Lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution declaring Israel’s recognition as “null and void” although the measure is largely symbolic given that Somalia has not controlled Somaliland since it declared independence in 1991, which Somalia has never accepted.

The resolution warns that individuals or institutions violating Somalia’s sovereignty will face legal consequences under the country’s penal code and international law. It directed the government to take up the matter with the United Nations, African Union, Arab League and other regional bodies.

‘Existential threat’

Netanyahu on Friday announced that Israel had established full diplomatic relations with Somaliland, describing the move as being in the spirit of the United States-brokered Abraham Accords, which normalised ties between Israel and several Arab countries.

The announcement made Israel the first UN member state to formally recognise the self-declared state, which has sought international acceptance for more than three decades without success.

Mohamud accused Netanyahu of trying to import Middle Eastern conflicts into Somalia and promised his country would not allow its territory to be used as a military base to attack other nations.

He urged Somalis to set aside “tribal and regional rivalries” to confront what he described as an “existential threat” to the country’s unity.

“We need to combine our wisdom and strengths to defend our existence and sovereignty,” the president said, calling on Somaliland’s leaders to enter meaningful negotiations to preserve Somalia’s territorial integrity.

Somali Prime Minister Hamza Barre told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israel was “searching for a foothold in the Horn of Africa” and called on it to recognise and accept a Palestinian state instead.

Defending the Israeli move, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, known locally as Cirro, said on Friday that Somaliland’s recognition “is not a threat, not an act of hostility” to neighbouring countries.

He said his nation is “deeply rooted in Islamic values of moderation, justice and coexistence” and does not represent an alignment against any Islamic nation or community.

Meanwhile, the Israeli decision sparked immediate international backlash. 

A joint statement issued on Saturday by 21 Arab and African countries and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned the recognition as a grave violation of international law and the UN Charter.

In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed support for Somalia.

Regional leaders – including the presidents of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Djibouti – held phone calls with Mohamud to reaffirm support for Somalia’s territorial integrity. Eritrea separately called on China to take action at the UN Security Council, drawing parallels to the Taiwan issue.

The European Union issued a statement calling for respect for Somalia’s sovereignty but stopped short of condemning the move. It urged authorities in Mogadishu and Hargeisa to engage in dialogue.

Israel’s move to recognise Somaliland came during a more than two-year genocidal war in Gaza, in which more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Israel is currently being investigated by the International Court of Justice over allegations of genocide, and Netanyahu is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 after a civil war under military ruler Siad Barre. The self-declared republic controls part of northwestern Somalia and has its own constitution, currency and flag. It claims the territory of the former British Somaliland protectorate, but its eastern regions remain under the control of rival administrations loyal to Somalia.

Asked by the New York Post on Friday if he would recognise Somaliland, US President Donald Trump replied “no” although he added that the matter remained under study. “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump asked.

The UN Security Council is expected to discuss Israel’s recognition of Somaliland on Monday.

Somalia has demanded Israel reverse its recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland, condemning the move as an act of “aggression that will never be tolerated”.

Ali Omar, Somalia’s state minister for foreign affairs, told Al Jazeera in an interview on Saturday that the government would pursue all available diplomatic means to challenge what it described as an act of “state aggression” and Israeli interference in the country’s internal affairs.

The sharp rebuke came a day after Israel became the first nation in the world to formally recognise Somaliland, triggering swift condemnation across African and Arab nations, and raising concerns about whether the move was part of an alleged Israeli plan to forcibly displace Palestinians.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 following a brutal civil war but has never secured recognition from any United Nations member state. The self-declared republic has established its own currency, flag and parliament, though its eastern territories remain disputed.

“This will never be acceptable or tolerable to our government and people who are united in defending our territorial integrity,” Omar said. “Our government strongly advises the State of Israel to rescind its divisive actions and abide by international law.”

Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, known locally as Cirro, had been signalling for weeks that recognition by an unnamed state was imminent, though he didn’t clarify which country. Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa had been dotted with billboards in recent weeks, telling residents that recognition was coming.

Omar said the strategic importance of the Horn of Africa was driving foreign interference and interest. “The importance of this region isn’t new. It is still important for international trade today,” he said.

‘Displacement of Palestinians’

Omar accused Israel of pursuing Somaliland’s recognition in order to further displace Palestinians from Gaza. “One of the motivating factors is the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” he told Al Jazeera. “It has been widely known – Israel’s goal on that issue.”

Palestine’s foreign ministry backed Somalia, recalling that Israel had previously identified Somaliland as a potential destination for forcibly displacing Palestinians from Gaza, which it described as a “red line”.

On Saturday, Somaliland’s Cirro defended the Israeli move, insisting it was “not directed against any state, nor does it pose a threat to regional peace”.

Hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the recognition on Friday, Somalia’s prime minister’s office issued a statement describing Israel’s action as a deliberate attack on Somalia’s sovereignty and an unlawful step, and emphasising that Somaliland remains an integral and “inseparable” part of the Somali territory.

Netanyahu framed the diplomatic breakthrough with Somaliland as being in the spirit of the Abraham Accords and said he would champion Somaliland’s cause during his meeting with United States President Donald Trump on Monday. Netanyahu also invited Cirro to Israel, which the latter has accepted.

But Trump has distanced himself from close ally Netanyahu on the issue, telling The New York Post newspaper he would not follow Israel’s lead.

Somalia’s Public Works Minister Ayub Ismail Yusuf welcomed Trump’s stance, writing on social media: “Thank you for your support, Mr. President.”

Trump’s comments marked a shift from August, when he told a news conference his administration was working on the Somaliland issue. In recent weeks, the US president has frequently attacked the Somali community in the US and Somalia.

The US has also expressed frustration with Somalia, saying at a recent UN Security Council meeting that Somali authorities had failed in improving security in the country despite billions in aid, and signalling it will not continue to fund a costly peacekeeping mission.

Meanwhile, the African Union’s chairperson, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, rejected any initiative aimed at recognising Somaliland as an independent nation, warning it would set a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications. The continental bloc cited a 1964 decision on the intangibility of borders inherited at a country’s independence as a fundamental principle.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also condemned what he described as a provocative Israeli assault on the sovereignty of an Arab and African state. He said the Israeli recognition was a clear violation of international law and a flagrant infringement of the principle of state sovereignty.

Despite the international reactions, thousands poured onto the streets of Hargeisa on Friday to celebrate what many saw as the end of 30 years of diplomatic isolation. The Israeli flag was emblazoned on the national museum as residents welcomed the breakthrough.

Somalia has historically had contentious relations with Israel, stemming from Israel’s historic ties with Somalia’s regional rival, Ethiopia.

During the Cold War, Israel provided Ethiopia with military training, intelligence and weapons, while Somalia, aligned with Arab states hostile to Israel, was defeated in the 1977 Ogaden War, a setback that helped fuel decades of civil unrest.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 following persecution under former leader Mohammed Siad Barre, but Somalia has never recognised the breakaway region.

Earlier this month, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel revealed there had been communication with Somalia’s government about shared concerns over Houthi influence in the region.

But Omar, the Somali state minister for foreign affairs, strongly denied any ties with Israel, stating that the country’s position on Israeli policies remained unchanged.