Historic Israel-Africa Summit Cancelled Amid Boycott Threats

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo during the ECOWAS summit in Monrovia, Liberia, June 4, 2017. Image by Kobi Gideon/GPO

By Aiden Pink September 11, 2017

A landmark diplomatic summit involving Israel and dozens of African countries has been postponed amid a pressure campaign by pro-Palestinian activists and African Arab states to cancel the event.

The summit, scheduled for October 23-27 in the West African nation of Togo, has been postponed “to a date to be agreed upon between the two countries,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prioritized diplomatic outreach to Africa, embarking on a historic tour of Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda last year and renewing diplomatic ties with African countries that in some cases had snubbed Israel for 50 years.

But strong opposition to the pan-African summit emerged from the Palestinian Authority, as well as leaders in Morocco and South Africa, the Times of Israel reported.

“Various pressures have been placed on the Togolese president to cancel the conference,” Netanyahu told his cabinet last month. “These pressures are the best testimony to the success of our policy, of Israel’s presence in Africa.”

The Foreign Ministry said that despite the postponement, “Israel will continue its growing efforts in Africa as it has done in recent years.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO