Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Djibouti
A small Yemenite Jewish community that left en masse in 1948, informal ties without diplomatic relations, foreign military bases at the Bab el-Mandeb, the Ansar Allah (Houthi) Red Sea crisis, Djibouti's opposition to the recognition of Somaliland, and small two-way trade
Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Djibouti include a small community of Jews from Aden that made aliyah en masse in 1948,[1] informal Israeli understandings on shipping and overflights without diplomatic relations,[2] and Djibouti's position on the Bab el-Mandeb strait, where it hosts more foreign military bases than any other country.[2][3] Djibouti has said it will not establish ties with "Israel" until Palestine is recognised as a state.[3]
Jewish community and religious life
History
According to the heritage site Jews Were Here, the first Yemenite Jews to settle permanently in Djibouti came from the British Protectorate of Aden. There were 50 Jewish families in 1901 and 111 in 1921, and the community never numbered more than a few hundred. It had a grand synagogue and a cemetery, and existed for about half a century before disbanding in 1948. Raised on the Yemenite tradition of longing for the Land of Israel, the community made aliyah en masse once emigration became possible; one former member recalled, "One day a plane came from Aden and we all got on."[1] The Times of Israel reported, citing a 1949 Jewish Telegraphic Agency report, that the last three Jews of neighbouring Somaliland stayed on temporarily in Djibouti to wind up the affairs of those who had left.[4]
The community today
The synagogue was converted into offices in 2012, leaving only its original façade, and a small fenced Jewish cemetery within the Christian cemetery is the only other Jewish structure still standing. The Jews now living in Djibouti are mostly French expatriates of Jewish origin, along with a few isolated, unaffiliated individuals.[1]
How far is it Zionist? No Jewish organisation now operates in Djibouti. The historic community's departure in 1948 was an act of mass aliyah rooted in a religious longing for Zion,[1] but no evidence of organised Zionist activity in Djibouti, then or now, was found.
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Powerbase does not yet have a page on Chabad in Djibouti, and the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi there.[5]
Zionist movement and advocacy
No Zionist organisation operating in Djibouti was found.
Israeli state and commercial ties
Informal relations without diplomatic ties
Writing for the Israeli think tank Mitvim in 2018, Moshe Terdiman said that "Israel" had worked from the 1990s onwards with Djibouti, Somaliland and Somalia to secure freedom of navigation in the southern Red Sea. He described "good informal relations" with Djibouti and "an understanding, without a written agreement, regarding the anchoring of Israeli ships in the port of Djibouti and the passage of El Al flights through its air space", while noting that the two countries had no diplomatic relations.[2]
In September 2020 the Palestinian minister Ahmad Majdalani named Djibouti among five Muslim-majority countries he said were in talks with "Israel" on normalisation. In November 2020 President Ismail Omar Guelleh told The Africa Report that "the conditions aren't ripe" and that "All we ask that the government do is make one gesture of peace, and we will make 10 in return."[6][7] He added that Djibouti had no problem with Jews or with Israelis as a nation: "Some of them even come to Djibouti on business with their passport, and Djibouti's citizens have been able to travel to Israel for 25 years now."[8] The Congressional Research Service reported in 2025 that Djibouti, a member of the Arab League, "has refused to establish ties with Israel until Palestine is recognized as a state", and that it joined four other countries in a 2023 referral to the International Criminal Court on the situation in Palestine.[3]
Foreign military bases and the Bab el-Mandeb
Djibouti sits on the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the gateway from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It hosts a French military presence and Camp Lemonnier, the only enduring US military installation in Africa, where more than 5,000 US military and civilian personnel are deployed. Japan opened its first post-war overseas base there in 2011, Italy followed in 2013, and China opened its first overseas base there in 2017. Rents from foreign militaries bring in more than $125 million a year.[3] Camp Lemonnier, a former French Foreign Legion base, was leased to the United States in 2002, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has had its headquarters in Djibouti since 1986.[8] Terdiman called Djibouti "the country with the most foreign military bases in the world" and described a parallel struggle in the Red Sea between regional powers, with Qatar and Turkey trying to stop Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt from expanding their influence there.[2] No Israeli base or permanent military presence in Djibouti was reported in the sources consulted.
The Ansar Allah Red Sea crisis
After Ansar Allah in Yemen began attacking international shipping connected to "Israel" following the 7 October 2023 attacks,[9] Djibouti refused to let its territory be used for strikes on Yemen. In February 2024 Guelleh said that Djibouti would not allow any party to be targeted from its soil and that the foreign bases were there to maintain peace, fight terrorism and piracy and protect navigation. He also condemned "the siege, barbaric killing, and terrifying destruction of infrastructure" in Gaza.[10] In May 2024 Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed said the United States had asked for permission to conduct operations against Ansar Allah from its base in Djibouti and had been refused.[11]
Somaliland, Berbera and the recognition of 2025
Djibouti has poor relations with the UAE after it terminated DP World's contract to run the Doraleh Container Terminal in 2018, and may see Somaliland, where DP World has developed the port of Berbera, as a rising competitor.[3] When "Israel" recognised Somaliland on 26 December 2025, Djibouti was among 21 states that, with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, issued a joint statement the next day condemning the recognition and rejecting "any potential link between such measure and any attempts to forcibly expel the Palestinian people out of their land".[12] At the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on 29 December 2025, Djibouti's representative said, "This decision is in direct violation of established international norms and legal principles," and warned that "Israel" was encouraging further fragmentation.[13] Djibouti's former foreign minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, elected chairperson of the African Union Commission in early 2025,[3] said on 26 December that he "firmly rejects any initiative or action aimed at recognizing Somaliland as an independent entity".[14]
Trade
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Djibouti exported $9.93 million of goods to "Israel" in 2024, mainly oily seeds ($8.15 million) and buckwheat ($1.76 million), up from $182,000 in 2019; Israeli exports to Djibouti were worth $2.18 million, led by telephones.[15] Djibouti does not appear in the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics' table of trade by country.[16] The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute records no Israeli arms transfers to Djibouti.[17]
Migration and aliyah
The Jewish community of Djibouti emigrated to "Israel" in 1948, flying out via Aden.[1] The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Djibouti separately in its table of immigrants by country of birth.[18]
Political interference
No Israeli political interference in Djibouti was found in the sources consulted. "Israel"'s interest in Djibouti has centred on Red Sea shipping, overflight rights and the Bab el-Mandeb,[2] and Djibouti has tied any normalisation to the Palestinian question.[3][6]
Jeffrey Epstein
In September 2011 a member of Jeffrey Epstein's staff sent him a list of airport codes for a possible trip from Teterboro by way of Paris, Marrakesh, Dakar, Abidjan, Malabo or Bata in Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Dubai, Baku, Astana, Moscow, Minsk, Vilnius and Riga.[19] The records reviewed do not show that the trip took place.
BBC News Afrique counted 88 mentions of Djibouti in the released files, and says that such mentions mostly reflect planned, postponed or cancelled trips and personal or business contacts.[20]
See also
- Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
- Zionist movement
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Somalia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Eritrea
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Ethiopia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Yemen
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Jews Were Here, Djibouti - Jews were here jewswerehere.com, 25 March 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Moshe Terdiman, The Boiling Water of the Red Sea Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, September 2018.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Lauren Ploch Blanchard, Djibouti Congressional Research Service, In Focus IF11303, updated 9 June 2025.
- ↑ Zev Stub, Somaliland's little-known Jewish past spans Yemenite traders and contested legends The Times of Israel, 1 January 2026.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Middle East Monitor, Djibouti refuses to establish ties with Israel until it makes peace with Palestine Middle East Monitor, 25 November 2020.
- ↑ Lahav Harkov, Djibouti: Ties with Israel only after peace gesture to Palestinians The Jerusalem Post, 25 November 2020.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Irit Back, Israel and the Horn of Africa: What are the Odds with the Countries That Still Don't Recognize Israel? Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 29 April 2021.
- ↑ Sally Sara, Why Israel's recognition of Somaliland is considered controversial ABC News (Australia), 1 January 2026.
- ↑ Yemen Press Agency, Djibouti rejects any US attack from its territories against Yemen Yemen Press Agency, 12 February 2024.
- ↑ Sputnik Africa, Djibouti Authorities Don't Allow US to Strike Houthis From Its Territory, Country's PM States Sputnik Africa, 17 May 2024.
- ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Joint Statement by 21 Arab, Islamic, and African nations stressing their unequivocal rejection of Israel's recognition of the Somaliland region Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, 27 December 2025.
- ↑ United Nations, Israel's Recognition of Somaliland Triggers Sharp Divides, as Security Council Speakers Warn Move Threatens Stability in Horn of Africa UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, SC/16270, 29 December 2025.
- ↑ African Union, The Chairperson of the African Union Commission rejects any recognition of Somaliland and reaffirms the African Union's unwavering commitment to the unity and sovereignty of Somalia African Union, 26 December 2025.
- ↑ Observatory of Economic Complexity, Djibouti (DJI) and Israel (ISR) Trade OEC, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Statistical Abstract of Israel 2024, Table 2.55: Immigrants, by period of immigration, country of birth and last country of residence CBS, 2024.
- ↑ Email exchange with Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: airports", 26 September 2011, US Department of Justice Epstein files release, Data Set 10, EFTA01774124 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Isidore Kouwonou, Ce que les documents dans l'affaire Epstein révèlent sur l'Afrique et certaines personnalités BBC News Afrique, 25 February 2026 (in French).