Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Rwanda

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A small expatriate Jewish community and Rwanda's first synagogue, Kagame's alignment with the Zionist state, the 2013–18 asylum-seeker transfers, sealed records of 1990s arms exports, a resident embassy since 2019, and agricultural projects

Rwanda has a small Jewish community, mainly of aid workers and business people, and its first synagogue opened with Chabad in 2019.[1] President Paul Kagame has positioned Rwanda as one of "Israel"'s closest friends in Africa, declaring at AIPAC in 2017 that "Rwanda is, without question, a friend of Israel".[2] Rwanda was one of two African destinations for asylum seekers transferred from "Israel" in 2013–18.[3] The Israeli Supreme Court has kept records of Israeli arms exports to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide sealed.[4]

Jewish community and religious life

History

Before 2019, Jewish life in Rwanda was limited to ad hoc events, mainly for tourists, run by visiting Chabad yeshiva students.[1] No historic Jewish community was found.

The community today

According to Chabad, the "small but rapidly growing" community includes people working in poverty relief, health care and economic development. One such body is the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, an Israel-based NGO for vulnerable and orphaned children that draws "inspiration from how Israel helped Jewish orphans after the Holocaust".[1]

How far is it Zionist? No Zionist federation or Israeli fundraising body was found in Rwanda. The community's institutions are closely tied to the Israeli state: Israel's first resident ambassador, Ron Adam, said that when he opened the embassy "the first thing I decided to do" was to ask Chabad to establish a centre.[1]

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Rwanda

Rabbi Chaim and Dina Bar Sella opened Chabad in Kigali in 2019, with what Chabad calls the country's first synagogue and its first permanent rabbi. It is the ninth Chabad centre under Chabad of Central Africa in Kinshasa. The couple helped Ambassador Adam put a mezuzah up at his office.[1] The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi in Rwanda.[5]

Zionist movement and advocacy

No organised Zionist movement was found in Rwanda. Support for "Israel" comes from the state:

  • In March 2017 Kagame became the first African head of state to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), linking the Rwandan genocide with the Holocaust.
  • In 2014, while on the UN Security Council, Rwanda abstained on a resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.[2]
  • Kagame called at AIPAC for "renewed global solidarity against the relentless efforts to deny genocide".[6]

Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomatic relations and visits

"Israel" and Rwanda re-established diplomatic ties in 1994.[7] The main visits since then are:

  • July 2016: Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kigali. His talks with Kagame covered "military and security, energy, infrastructures, cyber, agriculture and water".[8]
  • July 2017: Kagame visited Jerusalem and met President Reuven Rivlin and Netanyahu.[9]
  • November 2017: the two leaders met again in Nairobi.[7]

On 1 April 2019 "Israel" opened its first resident embassy in Kigali. Rwanda's foreign ministry announced that RwandAir would launch direct flights between Tel Aviv and Kigali.[7]

Arms in the 1990s and the sealed records

In 2014 the human rights lawyer Eitay Mack and Professor Yair Auron asked the Israeli defence ministry, under the Freedom of Information Act, for records of arms exports to Rwanda between 1990 and 1995. Their request said that, "according to various reports in Israel and abroad", those exports "ostensibly violated international law, at least during the period of the weapons embargo imposed by the UN Security Council".[10] In April 2016 the Supreme Court rejected their appeal, citing threats to national security and foreign relations. Mack called the ruling "erroneous and immoral". According to The Times of Israel, weapons used in the genocide "allegedly included Israeli-made 5.56-mm bullets, grenades and rifles"; the records of the sales stay closed.[4] In June 2016 the state prosecution said the defence ministry's director-general had frozen exports to Rwanda six days after the genocide began, and that there was no justification for a criminal investigation of any Israeli official.[11]

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute records no Israeli transfers to Rwanda in the 1990s. It records:

  • five Lynx multiple rocket launchers (delivered 2008);
  • three ATMOS self-propelled guns (2013);
  • ten second-hand Ti-67S tanks (2013).[12]

Asylum-seeker transfers, 2013–2018

From 2013 "Israel" sent Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers to Rwanda and Uganda under a "voluntary" departure scheme.[3] The International Refugee Rights Initiative found that those sent there were left without legal status after their travel documents were taken on arrival.[13] Amnesty International records the course of the Rwandan side:

  • In April 2015 Kagame said Rwanda was negotiating an agreement.
  • The Israeli government presented a "voluntary transfer" agreement with Rwanda to the Supreme Court.
  • In January 2018 Netanyahu said claims that Rwanda was unsafe were "a joke". Rwanda's government spokesperson denied any "secret deal with Israel", and Kagame reportedly said he would accept only a process meeting international law.
  • In April 2018 the Israeli government admitted that Rwanda had refused to accept deportations.[3]

Agriculture

The Rwanda-Israel Horticulture Center of Excellence at Mulindi, Kigali, is a joint project that uses technology "imported from Israel" for seedling production. It was visited by Israeli Ambassador Einat Weiss in August 2023.[14] Netafim designed the Gabiro Agribusiness Hub in eastern Rwanda. Its first phase covers 5,600 hectares, with $50 million in funding from the Rwandan government.[15]

Trade

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics records Israeli exports to Rwanda of $9.7 million in 2025 (2024: $3.2 million), and Israeli imports from Rwanda below $0.1 million in both years.[16]

Migration and aliyah

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Rwanda separately in its table of immigrants by country of birth.[17] The main migration link is the transfer of asylum seekers from "Israel" to Rwanda.[3]

Political interference

No Israeli interference in Rwandan domestic politics was found. Because the records remain sealed, the extent of Israeli arms sales to Rwanda during the genocide cannot be documented from official sources.[4] On the diplomatic side, Voice of America noted Rwanda's 2014 Security Council abstention in reporting Kagame's AIPAC speech.[2]

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".[18] Clinton's office sent Ghislaine Maxwell the proposed manifest for the legs, which ran from Abuja to Kigali and on to Maputo.[19]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Mordechai Lightstone, Chabad Opens in Rwanda, as Nation Haunted by Genocide Builds Future Chabad.org, 3 September 2019.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Edward Rwema, Rwanda's Kagame Is First African Leader to Address AIPAC Voice of America, 26 March 2017.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Amnesty International, Forced and Unlawful: Israel's Deportation of Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum-Seekers to Uganda Amnesty International, 2018 (critical).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Judah Ari Gross, Records of Israeli arms sales during Rwandan genocide to remain sealed The Times of Israel, 12 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026 (Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States-side).
  6. ↑ Paul Kagame, Remarks by President Kagame at AIPAC Policy Conference, Washington paulkagame.rw, 26 March 2017 (Rwandan government-side).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Rwanda), Israel inaugurates its new Embassy in Kigali minaffet.gov.rw, 1 April 2019 (Rwandan government-side).
  8. ↑ Office of the President (Rwanda), President Kagame receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paulkagame.rw, 7 July 2016 (Rwandan government-side).
  9. ↑ Office of the President (Rwanda), President Kagame Meeting with President of Israel paulkagame.rw, 10 July 2017 (Rwandan government-side).
  10. ↑ Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, Israel's 'weapon exports to Rwanda during genocide' to stay secret, following Supreme Court ruling The Independent, 13 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Gili Cohen, Israel Stopped Defense Exports to Rwanda Six Days After 1994 Genocide Began Haaretz, 8 June 2016.
  12. ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, accessed 20 October 2026.
  13. ↑ International Refugee Rights Initiative, "I was left with nothing": "Voluntary" departures of asylum seekers from Israel to Rwanda and Uganda ReliefWeb, 8 September 2015 (critical).
  14. ↑ Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, Ambassador Einat Weiss visits the Rwanda-Israel Horticulture Center of Excellence RAB, August 2023 (Rwandan government-side).
  15. ↑ Abigail Klein Leichman, Israeli coworking farm hub in Rwanda to ensure food security ISRAEL21c, 22 August 2023.
  16. ↑ 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).
  17. ↑ 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).
  18. ↑ Angelo Fichera and Saranac Hale Spencer, The Epstein Connections Fueling Conspiracy Theories FactCheck.org, 15 August 2019.
  19. ↑ 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.
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