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Israeli Prime Minister's Africa Trip: A Bid to Change the Balance of Power

(Times of Israel) Raphael Ahren - During Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's four-day tour last week to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia - which required unprecedented security arrangements, including special forces and armored personal carriers brought from Israel - he was treated like the chief of a global superpower. He was received and bid farewell at the airport by the countries' heads of state. They spared no effort: red carpets, white gloves, military marching bands, national anthems, honor guards, gun salutes and girls handing flowers to the first lady. As Netanyahu noted in his speeches, many parts of the continent want to get closer to Israel, mostly because they are interested in Israeli technology and security know-how. In an age of escalating terrorism many leaders in this continent have concluded that they can no longer afford to show a cold shoulder to the Jewish state. The Arab Spring and the crumbling of hitherto powerful states has also allowed for the realignment. "Global problems that we now share are different than what they were some 30 years ago. And we need to partner with each other. We need to deal with the security threats we have together," Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday. Netanyahu is bidding to change the balance of power in the way the world relates to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The Palestinians have in recent years tried to internationalize the conflict. Blocking this effort was a central goal of his mission to Africa. "It might take a decade, but we will change the automatic majority against Israel," Netanyahu said last Monday on the plane to Kenya. Expanding Israel's foreign ties "will lead to a situation in which the Palestinians will no longer have this shelter [of international forums] and will have to discuss with us on a bilateral basis, something they refuse to do as long as they have the international refuge."
2016-07-11 00:00:00
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