Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Guinea
Guinea's 1967 break with the Zionist state under Sékou Touré and the 2016 restoration, an Israeli security contract with the 2009 junta, and the Steinmetz bribery conviction over the Simandou iron-ore deposit
Guinea was, according to Ifri, "the first African state to cut all its diplomatic ties" with "Israel", in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Most other African states did not break off ties until 1973. Ifri describes Ahmed Sékou Touré's Guinea as "very close to Egypt".[1] Relations were renewed in July 2016, after 49 years.[2] In 2021 a Geneva court convicted the Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz of bribing the wife of Guinea's former president to win rights to the Simandou iron-ore deposit, and the conviction was upheld on final appeal in 2025.[3]
Jewish community and religious life
History
No historic Jewish community in Guinea was found in the sources consulted.
The community today
No organised Jewish community was found in Guinea.
How far is it Zionist? No Jewish or Zionist body was found in Guinea.
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Powerbase does not yet have a page on Chabad in Guinea, and the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi there.[4]
Zionist movement and advocacy
No organised Zionist movement was found in Guinea.
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
- Dore Gold, director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry, and Ibrahim Khalil Kaba, chief of staff of the Guinean presidency, signed a joint statement in Paris renewing relations on 20 July 2016.[2] Gold said: "Israel calls on all countries that have yet to renew their ties with Israel to follow Guinea's example."[5]
- Before relations were restored, "Israel" sent a medical team to Guinea during the Ebola crisis, after pledging $10 million to a UN fund.[2]
- In September 2016 Paul Hirschson, the Israeli ambassador resident in Dakar, presented his credentials to President Alpha Condé. He was accompanied by a large delegation of Israeli investors and pointed to potential in agriculture and health. Vision Guinée said the renewal followed Benjamin Netanyahu's "décision stratégique" to strengthen political, economic and security ties with Africa.[6]
- Ifri says that the relations were renewed at a ceremony in Paris, and that the Guinean ambassador to France was made responsible for managing them until a mission could be opened.[1] In 2021 the Israeli cabinet approved Ben Bourgel as ambassador to Senegal, also accredited to Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia and Cape Verde.[7]
Security and training
- SIPRI reported in 2011 that the Israeli company Global CST won a $10 million order in 2009 that included training, arming and equipping the presidential guard of Moussa Dadis Camara, who took power in a coup in December 2008. When the Israeli Ministry of Defence learned of the contract, the company reportedly moved the security element to a South African company. The Guinean government said Israelis were involved in military training in 2009. The Israeli ministry said no Israeli company had been involved.[8]
- SIPRI also reports that French pressure on the Israeli foreign ministry reportedly made an Israeli company stop training Guinean armed forces in 2008. After the September 2009 massacre of protesters by government forces, the Israeli Ministry of Defence said exports would be denied to countries with questionable human rights records.[8]
- Ifri says the Israeli businessman Gaby Peretz has sold military equipment to West and Central African governments since the 1980s through his company AD Consultants. He has mainly supplied Gabon, Senegal, the Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, the Central African Republic and Chad.[1]
Mining: Simandou
- Steinmetz's company, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), held rights to half of the Simandou iron-ore deposit. In January 2021 a Geneva court found that BSGR and a middleman company had signed contracts promising millions of dollars to Mamadie Touré, wife of the late president Lansana Conté, for her help in securing the rights.[3]
- A Geneva appeals court upheld the conviction in 2023 and set a three-year sentence, half of it to be served in jail. Switzerland's Federal Court upheld it in 2025 but sent his challenge to the 50 million franc penalty back to Geneva for review.[3][9] Steinmetz's lawyers said the decision showed the "politicization of the Swiss judicial system".[3]
- Ifri says Steinmetz reached an agreement with the Guinean government in 2020 to give up all his rights.[1]
Arms
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute records the sale of two second-hand Hughes-500MD light helicopters by "Israel" to Guinea, ordered in 2000 and delivered in 2001.[10]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Guinea separately in its main table of trade by country. Guinea falls under "Other Countries".[11]
Migration and aliyah
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Guinea separately in its table of immigrants by country of birth.[12]
Political interference
Jeffrey Epstein
A routing for a proposed "Africa Tour" sent to Jeffrey Epstein on 15 April 2011 included stops at Dakar, Bamako, Niamey, Libreville, Lomé, Abidjan and Conakry, and asked him to confirm which cities he wanted to visit.[13] The records reviewed do not show that he went.
On 10 January 2011 Peter Mandelson asked Epstein: "do you want to fly (with) me to Guinea Conakry on Fri Feb 4 from NY ?" Epstein's reply was headed "maybe", and Mandelson answered: "That's better better than I hoped for".[14] In January 2012 the flight planners for Epstein's plane were arranging a landing permit for Cape Verde and overflight permits for Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and the Gambia, "small african nations that we need and always obtain overflights for", on legs from Abidjan.[15]
See also
- Beny Steinmetz
- Global CST
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Senegal
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Ivory Coast
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Benjamin Augé, Israel-Africa Relations: What Can We Learn from the Netanyahu Decade? Études de l'Ifri, Ifri, November 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israel, Guinea renew diplomatic ties after 49 years JTA, 20 July 2016.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Daniel Balint-Kurti, Swiss Court Upholds Bribery Conviction for Billionaire Beny Steinmetz OCCRP, 4 April 2025.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026 (Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States-side).
- ↑ Michael Zeff, Israel and Guinea announce diplomatic relations Ynetnews, 20 July 2016.
- ↑ Tête-à-tête entre Alpha Condé et des hommes d'affaires israéliens Vision Guinée, 30 September 2016.
- ↑ Meet the 36 new ambassadors approved to new posts around the world The Jerusalem Post, 20 June 2021.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Siemon T. Wezeman, Israeli Arms Transfers to Sub-Saharan Africa SIPRI Background Paper, October 2011.
- ↑ Keystone-SDA, Swiss Federal Court upholds Beny Steinmetz's bribery conviction SWI swissinfo.ch, 5 April 2025.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy) (Israeli government-side).
- ↑ 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 (Israeli government-side).
- ↑ Email to Jeffrey Epstein, "Africa Tour routing", 15 April 2011, US Department of Justice Epstein files release, Data Set 10, EFTA01866037 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Email exchange between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, 10 January 2011, US Department of Justice Epstein files release, Data Set 9, EFTA00696786 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Email to Jeffrey Epstein, "Update", 17 January 2012, US Department of Justice Epstein files release, Data Set 9, EFTA00647682 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.