By Dr. Mohamed Osman
Mar 4, 2026 · Member of the Society · Published at The Times of Israel (Blogs)
Dr. Mohamed Osman
Member of the Society · Writer at The Times of Israel
Retired physician and public-health specialist from Somaliland, based in Canada, with career service at Ottawa Public Health and Alberta Health Services — and a long-standing voice for Somaliland's international recognition.
The long arc of quiet contacts between Jerusalem and Hargeisa — from 1960 to recognition.
This is the history piece of the series: the sixty-five-year arc from Israel's recognition of the first Somaliland republic in 1960, through Israel standing alone at the UN in 1990 to denounce the atrocities against the Isaaq, to the quiet contacts that never quite died after Somaliland's re-declaration of independence in 1991.
Dr. Osman traces the forces that finally converged: Saudi livestock bans that pushed Hargeisa to hunt for new markets, the Abraham Accords that rewrote what was possible between Israel and Muslim-majority societies, and Red Sea instability that made the two coastlines' interests align. Each nudged two isolated democracies toward each other.
The essay ends where the story does: mutual recognition in December 2025, Somaliland's first ambassador to Israel in February 2026, and cooperation fanning out into development, security, and technology — with a tribute to Ambassador Dr. Mohamed Omar Haji Mohamoud, whom he credits as an architect of the breakthrough.
This is the Society's summary — the full article, in the author's own words, is at The Times of Israel.
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