DOES RELIGIOUS INCLINATION ADVANCE AFRICA - ISRAEL COOPERATION? PERSPECTIVES FROM AFRICAN NATIONS
DOES RELIGIOUS INCLINATION ADVANCE AFRICA - ISRAEL COOPERATION? PERSPECTIVES FROM AFRICAN NATIONS
Grace Mwathime Bugasu - SALT University College, Ghana
ABSTRACT
Over the years the state of Israel has positioned itself as a strategic partner offering as an ally of solutions to African nation’s challenges including development assistance, disaster response, water technology, security and investments in agriculture and technology. However, the emergence of Arab states’ influence of African nations, regional solidarities and global power dynamics posed a new challenge to the symbiotic relationship that Israel enjoyed with African nations. Arab states have consistently portrayed Israel as an imperialist and an outsider to the African continent. The wealthy Arab states successfully brokered the Arab–Muslim solidarity which made Islamic African states view attack on Palestine as a religious attack, effectively weakening the partnership between the state of Israel and African nations. As a result, influencing African voting pattern at African Union and United Nations General Assembly. While African countries continue to benefit significantly from collaborations with Israel in terms of knowledge and technology transfer, agriculture, trade partnerships and water technology. African nations do not reciprocate these benefits as evidenced by African voting behaviour in and African Union resolutions. The study therefore sought to determine the influence of religious inclination on the cooperation between the State of Israel and African Nations. The study was anchored on a pragmatic research philosophy, adopting a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative and qualitative techniques. Descriptive and exploratory research designs were applied. The study population comprised experts and officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, trade and industry, education, agriculture, science and technology and security in countries with diplomatic relations and consulates of 40 African countries with diplomatic ties to Israel, and the interviews with Israeli diplomats were presented, from which 92 respondents were purposively selected. Primary data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires, while secondary data were obtained from bilateral agreements, trade reports, scientific partnerships, and diplomatic communiqués. Qualitative data were analysed thematically through conceptual analysis using NVivo, whereas quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. All ethical considerations were observed. The findings revealed that Africa–Israel cooperation manifested strongly in agriculture, water technology, cybersecurity, scientific innovation, and health partnerships, with respondents indicating substantial benefits in productivity, technological transfer, and capacity building. However, the results also showed that Arab–Muslim solidarity exerted significant pressure on African states, shaping United Nations General Assembly voting patterns and limiting diplomatic reciprocity toward Israel.
