عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Israel to Join African Union as Observer Country

Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Burundi, and Chad Aleli Admasu with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (African Union)
Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Burundi, and Chad Aleli Admasu with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (African Union)
TT
TT

Israel to Join African Union as Observer Country

Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Burundi, and Chad Aleli Admasu with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (African Union)
Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Burundi, and Chad Aleli Admasu with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (African Union)

Israel's Foreign Ministry announced Thursday that the country will be joining the African Union (AU) as an observer state.

Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Burundi, and Chad Aleli Admasu presented his credentials to the AU Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

Israel enjoyed observer status in the predecessor Organization of African Unity until 2002 when it was expelled for its policy against Palestinians during the second intifada.

The former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has refocused his efforts to rejoin the Union and prioritized Israel’s relations with Africa during the latter half of his 12 years in office.

Besides seeking new markets for Israeli agriculture, high-tech, and security, the former prime minister was eager to improve African nations’ voting record on Israel-related matters in international forums such as the United Nations Security Council and UNESCO.

In July 2016, Netanyahu became the first Israeli premier in decades to travel to the continent when he visited four East African nations: Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.

In December of that year, Jerusalem hosted seven ministers and many other top officials from over 12 Western African countries at an agricultural conference in Israel, co-sponsored by ECOWAS and Mashav, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation.

In June 2017, Netanyahu attended the annual conference by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), an organization that includes 15 nations with a combined population of some 320 million.

He was invited to the 51st Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Community in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city.

“Israel is returning to Africa in a big way,” Netanyahu said before the trip.

Israel has relations with 46 of the 55 AU member states. Israel re-established ties with Guinea in 2016 and with Chad in 2019. Sudan proceeded to normalize relations with Israel after the Abraham Accords.

Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, sent the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry, Aliza Ben-Nun, to Addis Ababa, where she met the ambassadors of 30 AU members and asked for their support for Israel as an observer member.

“This is a day of celebration for Israel-Africa relations,” said Lapid, adding that this diplomatic achievement resulted from efforts by the Foreign Ministry, the African Division, and Israeli embassies on the continent.

“This corrects the anomaly that existed for almost two decades,” he continued, “and is an important part of the strengthening of the fabric of Israel’s foreign relations. This will help us strengthen our activities in the continent and the organization’s member states.”

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Iran Says Could Abandon Nuclear Weapons But Has Conditions

A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Iran Says Could Abandon Nuclear Weapons But Has Conditions

A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)

Iran on Saturday hinted it would be willing to negotiate on a nuclear agreement with the upcoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, but that it has conditions.
Last Thursday, the UN atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a “comprehensive” report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks.
Ali Larijani, advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Iran and the US are now in a new position concerning the nuclear file.
In a post on X, he said, “If the current US administration say they are only against Iran’s nuclear weapons, they must accept Iran’s conditions and provide compensation for the damages caused.”

He added, “The US should accept the necessary conditions... so that a new agreement can be reached.”
Larijani stated that Washington withdrew from the JCPOA, thus causing damage to Iran, adding that his country started increasing its production of 60% enriched uranium.
The Iran nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached to limit the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under Trump’s first administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed a sanction regime of “maximum pressure” on Tehran.
In retaliation, Iran has rapidly ramped up its nuclear activities, including by increasing its stockpiles of enriched uranium to 60% — close to the 90% threshold required to develop a nuclear bomb.
It also began gradually rolling back some of its commitments by increasing its uranium stockpiles and enriching beyond the 3.67% purity -- enough for nuclear power stations -- permitted under the deal.
Since 2021, Tehran has significantly decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices to monitor the nuclear program and barring UN inspectors.
Most recently, Iran escalated its confrontations with the Agency by announcing it would launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges. Its move came in response to a resolution adopted by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.
Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
Shortly after the IAEA passed its resolution last Thursday, Tehran spoke about the “dual role” of IAEA’s chief, Raphael Grossi.
Chairman of the Iranian Parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Ebrahim Azizi said, “The statements made by Grossi in Tehran do not match his actions in Vienna.”
And contrary to the statements of Azizi, who denied his country’s plans to build nuclear weapons, Tehran did not originally want to freeze its uranium stockpile enriched to 60%
According to the IAEA’s definition, around 42 kg of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible. The 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Spokesperson and deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Friday that IAEA inspectors were scheduled to come immediately after the meeting of the Board of Governors to evaluate Iran’s capacity, “with those capacities remaining for a month without any interruption in enrichment at 60% purity.”
Iran’s news agency, Tasnim, quoted Kamalvandi as saying that “the pressures resulting from the IAEA resolution are counterproductive, meaning that they increase our ability to enrich.”
He added: “Currently, not only have we not stopped enrichment, but we have orders to increase the speed, and we are gradually working on that."