Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Mozambique
The small Jewish community of Maputo and its Honen Dalim synagogue, whose leader is the Zionist state's honorary consul, Israeli anti-drone systems used by the army against Islamic State in Cabo Delgado, and Pegasus spyware
Mozambique has a very small Jewish community in Maputo, centred on the Honen Dalim synagogue, built in 1926.[1] A long-serving community member, Rogerio Levy-Fonseca, is the Zionist state's honorary consul.[2] In Cabo Delgado the Mozambican army has used Israeli anti-drone systems against Islamic State.[3]
Jewish community and religious life
History
- Colonial era: According to the Commonwealth Jewish Council, Jewish sailors and merchants first settled on the coast in the 16th century, when Mozambique was a Portuguese colony.[4] The World Jewish Congress says that around 1900 South African Jews exiled by President Paul Kruger for their pro-British activities settled there. A united Sephardi and Ashkenazi synagogue was built in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in 1926.[1] The congregation was founded in 1899, with Jewish refugees from the Transvaal during the Anglo-Boer War, and it keeps its original name, Honen Dalim ("Helping the Poor").[2] African Synagogues describes the building as "the only synagogue ever realized" in Mozambique.[5]
- The Second World War: Refugees from Nazism arrived in Lourenço Marques, which had been designated a neutral port. Most later left for South Africa.[1]
- Independence: After independence in 1975 most of the remaining Jews left. They were at odds with the new government's collectivist economic policies.[1]
- Revival: In 1989 a local non-Jewish businessman, Alkis Macropolous, campaigned to have the synagogue returned to the community. In 2009 the community was registered as an association, "Honen Dalim – The Jewish Community of Mozambique".[6] The synagogue was restored in 2010–13.[5] It was rededicated in 2013 in the presence of the justice minister, Benvinda Levi, and a delegation from the African Jewish Congress.[2]
The community today
Estimates of the community's size vary:
- the World Jewish Congress gives about 35 Jews (2018), all in Maputo, and also cites a local estimate of 20;[1]
- the Commonwealth Jewish Council gives about 15.[4]
The Honen Dalim synagogue is the only functioning Jewish institution in Mozambique. It holds Shabbat services in Portuguese and English. The community, the Mozambique Jewish Community, is affiliated with the World Jewish Congress. Its co-presidents are Samuel Levi and Rogerio Levy-Fonseca.[1]
How far is it Zionist? The community is tied to the Zionist state through its leadership. Co-president Rogerio Levy-Fonseca is the honorary consul of "Israel" as well as Mozambique's representative to the African Jewish Congress.[2] The World Jewish Congress lists the honorary consulate of "Israel" in Maputo on its community page.[1]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Powerbase does not yet have a page on Chabad in Mozambique, and no permanent Chabad centre was found there. Mozambique is not among the ten countries with permanent centres under Chabad of Central Africa.[7] The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi in Mozambique.[8]
Zionist movement and advocacy
No organised Zionist movement was found in Mozambique.
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
"Israel" and Mozambique have full diplomatic relations, and "Israel" has an honorary consulate in Maputo.[1] Ifri lists Mozambique among the African countries where "Israel" has an honorary consul.[9]
Cabo Delgado: anti-drone systems
According to the company, at the end of 2021 the Israeli company MCTECH RF Technologies supplied MC-Horizon tactical anti-drone systems to the Mozambican army. In March 2022 the army reported that it had used them to bring down three Islamic State drones in Cabo Delgado. The drones were reportedly gathering intelligence and planning to bomb troops.[10][3] MCTECH is based in Kfar Saba. Yossi Gofer, chief executive of Orad, said this was the first time a foreign army had reported an interception with the system.[3]
No sourced Israeli role in protecting the Cabo Delgado gas projects was found.
Arms
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute records no Israeli deliveries of major weapons to Mozambique.[11]
Surveillance
Citizen Lab identified a Pegasus operator, which it called AK47, that focused on Mozambique. It was active from December 2016 to July 2017.[12]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Mozambique separately in its main table of trade by country. Mozambique falls under "Other Countries".[13]
Migration and aliyah
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Mozambique separately in its table of immigrants by country of birth.[14]
Political interference
No sourced case of Israeli political interference in Mozambique was found beyond the surveillance described above.
Jeffrey Epstein
In September 2002 Bill Clinton made a nine-day trip to Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa on Jeffrey Epstein's plane, with the actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, working on HIV and AIDS prevention, democratisation and economic development. Through a spokesman Clinton later praised Epstein's "insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa".[15] Clinton's office sent Ghislaine Maxwell the proposed manifest for the legs, which ran from Kigali to Maputo and on to Cape Town.[16]
Ehud Barak's leaked emails
The following items come from Barak's two leaked mailboxes (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by Handala, a group that Distributed Denial of Secrets describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.[17] In May 2014 the intelligence consultancy Ergo asked Ehud Barak to pass a pitch to a client it code-named "Vespa". Vespa had "a big gas field" in Mozambique that needed "$20-30B to develop", and was "looking to sell a big chunk of that concession" to China (CNPC), Abu Dhabi or Qatar. Ergo offered its "close contacts and connections with PRC and GCC leadership".[18]
See also
- African Jewish Congress
- NSO Group
- Zionist movement
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to South Africa
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 World Jewish Congress, Mozambique worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 World Jewish Congress, Mozambique synagogue re-dedicated after restoration worldjewishcongress.org, 27 June 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Anna Ahronheim, Mozambique military downs IS drones with Israeli anti-drone system The Jerusalem Post, 8 March 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Commonwealth Jewish Council, Mozambique cjc.org.uk, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 African Synagogues, Mozambique: Honen Dalim Synagogue africansynagogues.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Honen Dalim, The Creation of Honen Dalim: The Jewish Community of Mozambique honendalim.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Shloimy Galperin, Getting Central Africa's Rabbis Into One Room Isn't Easy Chabad.org, 10 June 2026.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Benjamin Augé, Israel-Africa Relations: What Can We Learn from the Netanyahu Decade? Études de l'Ifri, Ifri, November 2020.
- ↑ Jorge Joaquim, Mozambique: Army intercepts Islamic State drones Pan African Visions, 7 March 2022.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Citizen Lab, Hide and Seek: Tracking NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware to Operations in 45 Countries The Citizen Lab, 18 September 2018.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Angelo Fichera and Saranac Hale Spencer, The Epstein Connections Fueling Conspiracy Theories FactCheck.org, 15 August 2019.
- ↑ Email from the Office of President William J. Clinton to Ghislaine Maxwell, "Africa Trip Information", 10 September 2002, US Department of Justice Epstein files release, Data Set 9, EFTA00578629 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Evan Pressman (Ergo) to Ehud Barak, "Kazakhstan-Mozambique overview", 10 May 2014, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!35/1 (204).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.