Sociology

Before the establishment of the Israeli state, the founding father of contemporary political Zionism, Herlz Theodor had in 1902 put Africa in mind and acknowledged existing analogies between the Jewish and black experiences (Golda, 1975). Just after the redemption of the Israelites, Theodors desire of helping African nations was adopted by the Jewish leaders. This was so because based on the similarities between Israel and Africa in the struggle for independence, Israel was seen to be better placed in providing better models for the emerging African states in the 1950- 1960s.

Israeli leadership has over the years had a humanitarian attitude towards Africa. Its other interests were motivated by the battle of supremacy between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and a similar cold war between Israel and Arab. 

Israel - Africa Relations During the Cold War
Israel and her African relations have been in a disturbing state from 1973. From the mid- 1950s to around 1965, Israel was doing its best to establish strong relations with African countries which were just gaining independence. These ties have since broken and efforts to repair them have been underway from 1976.
Before most African nations gained independence, Israel was motivated to develop strong relations with such nations so as to be associated with the independence process. As a result, Israel offered military and financial support in the independence struggle for most countries including Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. Israeli got attracted to African affairs basically due to political reasons coupled with idealistic and moral grounds. Politically, Israel wanted to establish a chain of global relations so as to get recognition from the emerging nations. Some African nations were however opposed to such relations due to doubts about the legitimacy of Israel as a nation, its culture, history and unclear Jewish religion.

In comparison to the more developed powers e.g. the Soviet Union and The United States which could offer financial support to Africa, Israeli could only offer their services in nation- building using appropriate technology, cooperative agriculture, giving foreign aid, revising existing education structures and offering affordable health care services. As Israeli continued to offer foreign aid, there was regular tension between nation- building aid and technological assistance since it was assumed that going deeper into African problems could end up interfering with socio-cultural practices.

In the 1960s, there was a cold war in The Horn of Africa. This is a region strategically located to attract international attention. It is made up of several nations namely Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti. These nations overlap the Indian Ocean and several oil rich Arabic states. Israels lifeline is wholly dependent on this region. Any political on goings draw a lot of attention in the international limelight (Lewis, 1976) since many nations including the U.S. and the Soviet Union has vested interests in the Horn of Africa.

The U.S. foreign policy on the Indian Ocean and the Horn of Africa allows a remarkable American presence in the ocean for reasons not limited to maintaining Western economic security, regional stability of the Middle East and the horn of Africa, prevention of any blockades of Western oil paths by the Soviets and finally to guarantee that the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea were to be left free for Israeli shopping activities. These policies by the Soviet and the U.S. resulted into numerous conflicts in the 1970s. The intention of the Soviet to widen its presence in the region was at a period when the U.S was concentrating on air missile and land based programs. This led to the 1960s battle of supremacy between the U.S and the Soviet on the Horn of Africa.

Reasons why some African countries broke ties with Israeli during the Cold War
Nearly all African countries except Swaziland, Malawi, Lesotho and Mauritius broke their relations with Israeli because of various reasons. One major reason for breaking ties was the open disagreement of Israels land treaties and many other unacceptable policies.

The other reason for breaking the relations was not associated in any way with Israel. Most African states were not satisfied with their own results after attaining political independence due to the high standards unattainable to most nations previously set by the industrialized nations. Israel was also categorised in this group of nations and thus greatly affected by the resentment.

Arab pressure and power politics coupled by incentives such as economic and financial grants also contributed to the breaking of the Israeli- African relations by diplomatic means between 1972 and 1973. The Israeli  Arab conflict during this period was a major hindrance to the newly formed Organisation of African Unions, The O.A.U since almost 70 percent of Arab land is found in Africa and about 62 percent of the Arab population lives in African countries e.g. Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Northern Sudan.  Most Arabic African states were supporting Pan- African movements and others e.g. Egypt wanted Israeli to be alienated from operating in Africa if it were to support the movement. Most heads of the black Sahara African states were allegedly promoting acts of aggression by Israel in the Middle East in the eyes of Arabs.

Israel was feared by many African nations for its unconfirmed participations in engineering many coups around the continent. Israel was even alleged to have participated in the toppling of Ugandas then president Milton Obote in 1971 due to its close ties with the then Chief of  General Staff, General Iddi Amin. Due to these unfounded allegations, most African countries opted to rupture their ties with Israel.
 Some countries such as Uganda under the then president Iddi Amin often made unrealistic and unjustifiable requests to Israel. In 1971, the ruptured relation between Uganda and Israel is suspected to be as a result of Israel failing to offer the then president with jet fighters and bombers and other military equipments to be used in attacking its enemies e.g. Tanzania in a calculated attempt to control the port of Tanga.
The maintained economic and diplomatic relations between Israel and the then apartheid government of South Africa could also have resulted in broken relations between Israeli and many other African governments which were very much against the apartheid regime. South Africa at this time had a comparatively large Jewish population whose welfare had to be taken care of by the Israeli government.