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This time, Israel wants to share money -By Tunji Ajibade

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Netanyahu

 

Everyone wants something from Israel these days. Most nations in Africa do. Nigeria does too; what with its pilgrims commission encouraging Nigerian tourists to go pick Israeli skill in agriculture.

It’s good most nations don’t expect Israel to give them money. They know from experience that Israel doesn’t give anyone money. But that nation surprised me lately. Its Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, visited Africa and he brought with him money to share. It’s striking however that when Netanyahu selected a specific destination to visit, he didn’t remember Nigeria that had utilised public funds to set up a marketing agency with the name pilgrims’ commission, and which had been making money for Israel’s tourism industry. Rather, he selected East Africa.

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I’m relieved Israel sets aside funds for Africa, even if this doesn’t come in cash. It’s refreshingly different from the usual story about an Israel that always insists it doesn’t give fish, rather it teaches people how to fish. When one of my friends returned from Israel some years back as a member of a team of agricultural scientists who were invited for training, I had jokingly asked him if the Israelis gave him any money. He said to me that the Israelis said they were only prepared to teach interested persons how to fish. It was one reason the $13m aid package meant to strengthen economic ties and cooperation with African countries, and which Netanyahu had in his pocket during his trip to the continent caught my attention.

Netanyahu was the first Israeli PM in decades who had reasons to come in this direction. One of the reasons was that he wanted to see the spot in Uganda where his elder brother had been killed exactly 40 years ago. On June 27, 1976, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by two Palestinian and two German hijackers. The airplane was forced to land at Entebbe Airport outside Kampala. Uganda’s then leader, Idi Amin, had endorsed the endeavour. Most of the passengers were released, except the Israelis. Their captors asked for ransom.

On July 4, Yonatan Netanyahu, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s elder brother, led an elite army commando to raid Entebbe. This Israel’s defence force successfully airlifted its nationals back to Israel. Some 26 years ago, I had read a published non-fiction account of the manner the Israelis rescued their people. I came away with the impression it was a daring move. It was my window into seeing how a nation could earn respect if it put its mind into it. Israel wanted to survive, and it structured its military accordingly. On that occasion, Israelis had clapped for their army. The world had marvelled at what Israel’s security outfits were capable of pulling off. Israel became even more revered, military-wise.

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However, the man that had led that raid, Yonatan Netanyahu, died in the exchange of fire with Ugandan soldiers at Entebbe. His officers carried his body with them though, and it was buried in Israel. Yonatan and his two younger brothers completed a trio of family warriors, the three men having been in the commando unit of the Israeli Army at one point or the other. Yonatan was born in 1946 in New York and he had spent much of his youth in the United States where he attended high school. He served in the Israeli Defence Force during the Six-Day War that Israel fought with neighbours in 1967. He attended Harvard University but transferred to Jerusalem’s Hebrew University in 1968. The desire to fight for his nation would make him leave his studies to return to the IDF. He distinguished himself in the wars Israel fought with neighbours in 1973. When he died in 1976 in the “Operation Entebbe” that got 102 Isrealis rescued from Uganda, it was renamed “Operation Yonatan”.

I made reference to the Netanyahu brothers for one reason. Their patriotism. Like so many other Israelis, they were prepared to ensure the survival of their nation. People who give their all for their nation deserve respect. Wherever I see such, I feel like standing still to throw a salute. Israel was one nation that was apprehensive about its survival in the first few years of its existence. Its citizens had had to give their all to make it live. Thousands died along the way. While he was on the battle field for Israel in 1973, Yonatan had written to Binyamin: “We’re preparing for war, and it’s hard to know what to expect. What I’m positive of is that there will be a next round, and others after that. But I would rather opt for living here in continual battle than for becoming part of the wandering Jewish people. Any compromise will simply hasten the end. As I don’t intend to tell my grandchildren about the Jewish State in the 20th century as a mere brief and transient episode in thousands of years of wandering, I intend to hold on here with all my might.”

Netanyahu’s visit to Uganda had provided him with the opportunity to pay tribute to the courage of his brother, his sacrifice for his people. But the PM came to do more than that. He tried to give life to his country’s relations with Africa too.

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Netanyahu’s Israel hasn’t been a complete stranger to sub-Saharan Africa. After many African countries became independent from their European colonisers in the 1960s, Israel had helped them in their period of transition. But the ties most nations on the continent had with Israel were severed in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Israel’s friendship with the white regime in South Africa that ran an apartheid system didn’t help too. Moreover, fabulous funds from Arab countries in the 1970s ensured that many African nations allowed their ties with Israel to come undone. Now Arab nations have their own challenges, with less funds to share out. In any case, funds aren’t the only means to effectively combat terror. Intelligence counts. Military hardware and how to appropriately deploy them are important. Israel has expertise in both, and African nations recognise it. Many of them have approached Israel on that score. So when its PM said he wanted to collaborate with African nations on security issues in the course of his visit, he was addressing a real need.

Netanyahu wasn’t only in Uganda; he was in Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. In Kenya, Netanyahu had called Israel’s partnership with nations in the region critical to defeating terrorism. He said he was sure Africa and Israel saw eye to eye on the nature of the problem. He said this in the appropriate place. Kenya had been on the receiving end of al-Shabab’s terror attacks for long. Each of the nations he visited could do with help to combat terror. This isn’t where it ends. Netanyahu had said he was determined to get allies in Africa. Good. Every nation needs allies, no matter how invincible it appears to be. Netanyahu had remarked that his trip was part of a major effort to get Israel to return to Africa in a big way. He didn’t come only with $13m aid package to strengthen economic ties and cooperation, Israel would also provide African states with training in domestic security and health-related issues, the PM had added. Netanyahu was accompanied on this trip by some 80 business leaders from more than 50 companies in Israel. No doubt he was bent on forging commercial ties with African companies and countries.

I’m for Africa that gets assistance from any nation that’s willing to offer it. What I worry about is the intention of such nations for offering assistance. What does Israel want out of this? A few of them are obvious. Israel has its needs for resources. Its investors want to go out and look for markets. Its companies want to export products. Allies on the continent translate into more territories where Israel can collect intelligence information, its forte. Africa hasn’t always fared well in international relations in which nations give nothing away except it serves their interests. We know from experience that a penny expended on Africa by its partners is billions of dollars lost to the same partners. African nations that are involved in the current Israeli diplomatic manoueuvre should therefore do their calculations well; outsiders that approach it do before they make a move.

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