Sudanese-Israeli Relations: From Secret Beginnings to a Public End

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, reportedly met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda on February 3, 2020 (AFP)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, reportedly met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda on February 3, 2020 (AFP)
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Sudanese-Israeli Relations: From Secret Beginnings to a Public End

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, reportedly met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda on February 3, 2020 (AFP)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, reportedly met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda on February 3, 2020 (AFP)

The meeting between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda two days ago made the relations between the countries public, adding Sudan to the list of countries in contact with Israel.

These secret Sudanese-Israeli relations go back to the beginning of the 1980s when secret meetings took place between former President Gaafar Muhammad Nimeiry and former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon through an Arab mediator. These meetings later paved the way for the deportation of Falasha (Ethiopian Jews) to Tel Aviv.

After the international press revealed the meeting, Nimeiry asked Israel and the US to stop the operation and not to disclose his role in smuggling Falasha Jews. The US, however, started to put pressure Nimeiry in 1985 during a visit by US Vice President George Bush to Khartoum meant to resume the smuggling operation, famously known as the “Saba” operation. Nimeiry succumbed to the pressure on the condition that they are transported to European countries, including Israel.

Sharon recalls in his memoirs that the first meeting with Nimeiry took place during the funeral service of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo. He was there as part of an Israeli delegation to give condolences.

Sharon said: “I met with Nimeiry for the second time in 1982 to discuss strategic issues that concern Africa. The meeting was arranged by a former Israeli officer in the intelligence services, Yaacob Namrud, and an Arab businessman”. He then added that “I discussed with Nimeiry another issue that was of paramount importance to Sudan and Israel,” hinting at the issue of transporting Falasha Jews to Israel.

The secret communications between Israel and Sudan were discontinued after Nimeiry’s regime was overthrown by the popular revolution in 1985. The Sudanese officials in the security services and the regime were persecuted for taking part in this transportation of the Falasha.

Ousted President Omar al-Bashir maintained public hostility to Israel, considering his extremist Islamic ideology, and joined the camp of countries that are opposed to Israel in the region. This case of normalization of relations with Israel remained present during the marathon negotiations that took place between the overthrown regime and the CIA regarding fighting terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

Reliable sources indicate that one of the conditions that the US kept putting on the table during negotiations with Sudan to remove it from the terrorism list and ending economic sanctions was taking a favorable position towards Israel. This was not rejected by Sudanese negotiators.

Under heavy US pressure and increasing international isolation, the ousted regime responded by cutting relations with Iran and ceasing all support of Hamas, a position that is favorable for Israel. Observers have found that in recent years, the regime has sent positive signs to Israel, expressed by the former Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, who did not dismiss the possibility of discussing normalizing relations with Israel during discussions with the US over removing the sanctions.

Wikileaks released a conversation with the advisor to the overthrown president, Mostafa Osman Ismail, where he pushed for Washington’s suggestion to normalize ties with Israel as a condition for restoring relations with the US.

Mubarak al Fadil al Mahdi, the Minister of Investment in the last government formation under Bashir before it was overthrown, publicly stated his support of diplomatic relations between Israel and Sudan. He said: “The Sudanese do not find relations with Israel problematic.”



Foreign Students Seek to Quit Harvard amid Trump Crackdown 

People walk near Harvard University on May 28, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Getty Images/AFP)
People walk near Harvard University on May 28, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Foreign Students Seek to Quit Harvard amid Trump Crackdown 

People walk near Harvard University on May 28, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Getty Images/AFP)
People walk near Harvard University on May 28, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Getty Images/AFP)

Harvard University has been flooded with requests from foreign students to transfer to other institutions as US President Donald Trump's administration seeks to ban it from hosting international scholars, a staff member said Wednesday.

"Too many international students to count have inquired about the possibility of transferring to another institution," Maureen Martin, director of immigration services, wrote in a court filing.

Trump has upended the United States' reputation among foreign students, who number around one million, as he presses a campaign against US universities he sees as obstructing his "Make America Great Again" populist agenda.

He has blocked Harvard from hosting international scholars in a maneuver being challenged legally, targeted non-citizen campus activists for deportation, and most recently suspended student visa processing across the board.

The president's crackdown has prompted "profound fear, concern, and confusion" among students and staff at the elite university, which has been "inundated with questions from current international students and scholars about their status and options", Martin wrote.

More than 27 percent of Harvard's enrollment was made up of foreign students in the 2024-25 academic year, according to university data.

"Many international students and scholars are reporting significant emotional distress that is affecting their mental health and making it difficult to focus on their studies," Martin wrote in the filing.

Some were afraid to attend their graduation ceremonies this week or had canceled travel plans for fear of being refused re-entry into the United States, she added.

She said that a handful of domestic students at Harvard had also "expressed serious interest" in transferring elsewhere because they did not want to attend a university with no international students.

A judge last week suspended the government's move to block Harvard from enrolling and hosting foreign students after the Ivy League school sued, calling the action unconstitutional.

A hearing into the case was scheduled for Thursday.

At least 10 foreign students or scholars at Harvard had their visa applications refused immediately after the block on foreign students was announced, including students whose visa applications had already been approved, Martin wrote.

"My current understanding is that the visa applications that were refused or revoked following the Revocation Notice have not yet been approved or reinstated," despite a judge suspending the move, she said.