The President of Chad, Idriss Deby Itno, paid a three-day visit to Israel from 27 November 2018. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the historic visit, declaring that he would visit Chad in the near future to announce the resumption of diplomatic relations. Cut for 45 years between N'Djamena and Tel Aviv (1). Chad and the majority of the member states of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) cut off their relations with Israel in 1973 because of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and other Arab lands and the displacement of an entire people, but it seems that these causes no longer obstruct some of the African leaders.
Especially that some Arab regimes do not find it awkward to normalize with Tel Aviv, and it is not logical that African regimes demand positions that serve the Palestinian cause at a time when Arab regimes are not hesitating to abandon that issue and to approach Tel Aviv secretly or openly, most recently Netanyahu's visit to Muscat , Israeli sports minister Merit Regev in the United Arab Emirates and Israel's announced announcement of diplomatic relations with the State of Bahrain soon. Some reports mentioned the rapprochement between Israel and Sudan. The question remains about the tools that Israel is using today to penetrate the continent of Africa. Is Africa's door open to Israel or are there obstacles to Israel's full penetration of Africa? What exactly does the Chadian President want from Tel Aviv? Why visit it at this particular time?
Israel and Africa .. Diplomacy of visits
Israel did not succeed in organizing the Africa-Israel Conference, which was to be held in the capital of Togo, at the end of October 2017, under the title of development and technological security. In the absence of an African consensus on the conference, Africa, without the convening of this event, as well as the reluctance of some countries that have announced their participation at the time, as well as the occurrence of some labor unrest in Lomé, are factors that led to the cancellation or postponement of the Conference of Israel and Africa. Israel is still determined to hold such a conference and is also seeking to obtain an observer seat in the African Union, the continental organization which is based in Addis Ababa.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the 51st Presidential Conference of the Economic Community of West African Nations (ECOWAS) in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on June 4, 2017. The event was called an honorary invitation. Morocco, and Mohammed VI, despite Morocco's bid to join this African regional organization (2).
In the summer of 2016, Netanyahu visited four countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It has become clear that economic and strategic bets are the main engine of Israeli diplomacy in Africa. Prior to Netanyahu's African tour, in June 2014, former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. He also visited Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa in order to enable the Israeli desire to obtain observer status in the African Union ).
What do African regimes want from Israel?
There are several facades that Israel is trying to shop through itself to African countries, perhaps the most prominent of which:
First: Israeli experience in the field of security and technology
Israel itself has developed sophisticated security expertise in the fight against terrorism, has developed sophisticated technological means of surveillance and wiretapping, and has private companies established by former IDF officers that will strengthen and improve the performance of the Presidential Guard and elite units in African countries.
Most African countries live in situations of security tension that need to be controlled, and many African leaders want to eavesdrop on their opponents and obtain modern technological means to achieve that purpose, and thus Israel has become the equivalent of every system. An African wants programs and technology to spy on adversaries, especially those related to wiretapping and various types of communication, as well as providing Israel with logistical security support to the systems of government by providing security information gathered by the Israeli intelligence Of. The presidential guard in most African countries is considered to be the most important and most qualified military formation. The training of the Presidential Guard Battalion will ultimately protect the head of power, which Israel will provide for these systems.
The Israeli media does not emphasize the unity of the tragedy between the Jewish people and the black African people
The visit of Chad's current president to Israel is only a public demonstration of a relationship that has existed for at least a decade between Chad and Israel. Since the Idriss Deby regime faced armed revolutions in northern and eastern Chad, military cooperation between N'Djamena and Tel Aviv has been active and the Chadian army has been equipped with Israeli military equipment.
In addition, counter-terrorism issues are one of the main concerns of Chad, a member of the five Sahel countries, along with Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Mali. The Chadian army is among the most experienced African armies in the face of jihadist movements. It fights with these movements in the financial territories and fights with Bucco haram near Lake Chad more than once. At the same time, Israel is taking the presence and activity of "jihadist groups" in West Africa and in the Horn of Africa over recent years as a link to stigmatize the Palestinian resistance with terrorism and considering it and the African armed groups as two sides of one coin, taking advantage of the poor awareness and understanding of African political elites to the dimensions of the Arab / Israeli conflict, as a result of the influence of Western media directed and serving the Israeli project.
The Israeli media does not emphasize the unity of the tragedy between the Jewish people and the black people of Africa. The Holocaust and the displacement of Jews in Europe followed the slavery of Africans, and the Arabs, according to the Israeli media, were the first to carry out slave trade on African peoples.
Second: Development of the agricultural field
In December 2016, Israel hosted a special conference for West African countries to discuss sustainable production in arid and semi-arid regions. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Togo, Liberia, Guinea, Cape Verde, the Gambia and Sierra Leone attended the meeting. Senior players from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau and Senegal.
In recent years, Israel has undertaken some projects of an agricultural and developmental nature: in Ethiopia, Israel has established a sugar production project with a contract between the Ethiopian sugar production company and the Israeli company Netafim, a project of about $ 200 million, and irrigation and sugar cane cultivation. The Israeli investment in the Ethiopian market has grown, especially in the field of flower growing and agricultural processing. According to the Ethiopian Investment Authority, the number of Israeli projects in Ethiopia amounted to 187 projects worth 1.3 billion Ethiopian Birr (equivalent to 58.4 million dollars).
The State of South Sudan signed with Israel in 2012 the first agreement between the two countries provides for the start of an Israeli project to exploit the fertile land in southern Sudan
The Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture contracted with the Israeli company Ebony to develop a master plan for Rwandan irrigation. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two sides on 22 January 2007 at the Ministry's headquarters in Kigali. Israel is also involved in a three-way project with Germany and Kenya to clear Lake Victoria, which is about 69,000 square kilometers, and is the main source of the Nile. On 17 August 2012, the three countries signed the Lake Victoria Rescue Project, Of fresh water in Africa with the aim of restoring fish wealth to it and destroying harmful aquatic plants that have taken over the lake. Israel's employment of the human dimension in its relations with Africa is reflected in this project, which is supposed to provide employment for 5 million people in the countries on the lake. : Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The State of South Sudan signed with Israel in 2012 the first agreement between the two countries provides for the start of an Israeli project to exploit the fertile land in southern Sudan for the construction of a model agricultural village. Israel has also launched a massive solar power project. Israel is working on projects in various fields in Uganda, particularly in the field of agriculture and water technologies, etc., in addition to the assistance and services provided by Israel in the field of medical treatment, military training and the provision of counterterrorism and religious extremism strategies.
Israeli Expansion in Africa: Strategic Goals
Israel's penetration into Africa is in a purely strategic context: it aims to empower Israel and dismantle the isolation that the Arabs have inflicted on them in the past decades. These projects are not for the development of Africa but for marketing Israel's image of racism against the Palestinian people.
It is remarkable that Africa has become a hidden arena of conflict between Israel on the one hand and Iran and Hezbollah on the other. It is known that the Lebanese community has an old presence in West Africa dates back to the end of the nineteenth century, and the Lebanese community in West Africa is estimated at 300 thousand people. The activity of businessmen of Lebanese financial and commercial origins has become one of the economic levers of some West African countries, especially in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. In the Ivorian capital there is a huge mosque in the district known as the Zahra Cultural Center, which is operated by the Ghadir Foundation. ). Among those Lebanese is a member of the Lebanese Shiite sect. Israeli intelligence is concerned with Lebanese commercial and financial activity in Africa, and claims that the Lebanese community in Africa has a role in supporting Hezbollah financially.
Israel has established several investment institutions to compete with the Lebanese, especially in Côte d'Ivoire, and has set up security and security companies to collect a database of Hezbollah men in the country, a map of their spread and level of economic impact. The Israeli-Canadian Fisvol Defense Company is securing the Flex Hovit Boni International Airport in the economic capital, Abidjan, as well as securing the independent port of Abidjan, which means that the movement of individuals, imports and economic exports of the country is under Israeli control. Lebanese businessmen in the Amal movement control the diamonds in Sierra Leone. At the same time, Israel is watching as it stands in the face of Iranian influence in Africa. It is known that Iran has a special relationship with South Africa. Tehran has stood firmly with the African Congress Party in its struggle against apartheid.
In 2011, the administration of former US President Barack Obama accused the Lebanese Canadian Bank of acting as a mediator to smuggle cocaine from Venezuela and Mexico to Europe through the networks of the party God of finance in West Africa. According to the US report, Shiite networks on both sides of the Atlantic, especially in South America and West Africa, have secured drug trafficking, and the proceeds of these operations went to the FARC and to Hezbollah. In May 2013, the Nigerian judiciary accused the Iranian businessman, Azim Aghajani, of illegally trading in arms and that he had imported to Lagos thirteen containers filled with a weapon he wanted to send to the rebels of Kazmans in southern Senegal, which led to a diplomatic crisis between Dakar and Tehran .
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has accused Israel and the United States of promoting rumors of this issue, saying that there is a Zionist-American plan aimed at destroying relations between Iran and Nigeria by accusing Iranian businessman Azim Aghajani of smuggling Iranian weapons to Nigeria.
It is clear to the Israeli observer of the Lebanese communities in Africa that Israel is convinced that Hezbollah, through financial and commercial networks in Africa, is collecting large sums of money from the African "Lebanese" and that Tel Aviv must stand for these activities. Are finding support and assistance from the Americans in this endeavor. Not only has Washington accused the Canadian-Lebanese Bank, but has lobbied for the closure of many Lebanese banks in Benin, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Israel and Africa: Penetration facilities
As well as the Israeli quest to penetrate Africa by polishing its image and enticing many of the ruling regimes on the continent and getting close to them, there are some parties that facilitate Israel's mission in Africa, including the Evangelical Church and its expansion and expansion in Africa, an expansion at the expense of Islam and at the expense of The Catholic Church in the former French colonies. It is known that the members of this church are the most ardent supporters of the State of "Israel" and refuse any concession to any inch of the Palestinians.
There are obstacles to Tel Aviv's African project: the activity of Israeli anti-infiltration groups in Africa, West, East and South Africa
The pro-US evangelical churches, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are armed with a modern strategy and intensive evangelism. The number of new converts to the American evangelical bee is increasing under the eyes and eyes of other churches. Since the early 1990s, several African countries have witnessed the sweep of these churches into new spaces by means of many overtures, but effective ones. In Central Africa, for example, the cuff between the Evangelical Church and the Catholic Church became more and more frequent. In Gabon, there are about 1,070 evangelical churches and several evangelical associations founded by Nigerians, Gauls and Peninians.
With the spread of the English Church and its expansion in Africa, Israel is gaining more influence among Africans; the English Church has become a tool of religious and popular pressure to empower Israel. Parallel to the power of the Evangelical Church in the African continent and its quest to enable Tel Aviv, most of the African rulers who restore ties with Israel seek to secure the sympathy of Western governments with whom Israel has influence.
Conclusion
If the visit of Chad's President Idriss Deby achieves a new Israeli breakthrough inside Africa and encourages Tel Aviv to its continued demand for observer status in the African Union and its change by holding the Israel-Africa conference, which failed in October 2017 in Togo, Tel Aviv has its African project: the activity of Israeli anti-infiltration groups in Africa, West, East and South Africa. These groups feed on the ties of Arab intellectuals who are graduates of local Arab educational institutions and educational institutions in Arab countries, which are active in the African field without any support or sponsorship from the Arab countries.