Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to the Comoros
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The Comoros and the Zionist state: no diplomatic relations, its referral of the Mavi Marmara raid to the International Criminal Court, normalisation talks since 2021, and an Epstein query about Gates programmes there
The Comoros, a Muslim-majority member of the Arab League, has no diplomatic relations with "Israel".[1][2] In 2013 it referred the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, a ship registered in the Comoros, to the International Criminal Court.[3] Since 2021 Israeli sources have reported US-brokered talks on normalising relations.[4][2]
Jewish community and religious life
History
No historic Jewish community in the Comoros was found in the sources consulted.
The community today
No organised Jewish community was found in the Comoros.
How far is it Zionist? There is no Jewish community. The connections on this page are between the Comorian state and the Zionist state.
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Powerbase does not yet have a page on Chabad in the Comoros, and the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi there.[5]
Zionist movement and advocacy
No organised Zionist movement was found in the Comoros.
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
- Israel Hayom and Middle East Monitor say the Comoros announced in 1994 that it had established diplomatic ties with "Israel", but that the move did not materialise.[4][6] The Israeli political scientist Benyamin Neuberger, using Israeli foreign ministry data from 2006, lists the Comoros among the states that established relations in 1994.[7] But the Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of relations does not include it,[8] and The Times of Israel says it "has never recognized Israel".[2]
- In 2020 the French think tank Ifri counted the Comoros among the few African states with no relations with "Israel", and among "the last ones that oppose" establishing them.[1]
- In October 2021 a senior Israeli diplomatic source said "Israel" was in talks with the Comoros on normalisation. The United States had reportedly brought the two sides together, and the talks had continued bilaterally.[4] Al-Monitor said the Comoros would be the fifth Muslim country to move towards normalisation under the Abraham Accords.[9]
- In January 2022 diplomatic sources told The Times of Israel that the Comoros and the Maldives were the leading candidates to normalise ties next. They said contacts were ongoing but no announcement was expected soon.[2]
- In June 2023 senior Israeli officials told Barak Ravid that the Comoros and Somalia had agreed to send senior representatives as observers to a meeting of the Negev Forum in Morocco, which was then postponed. They said both states had held quiet talks with "Israel" in recent years and that their officials had made secret visits to "Israel".[10]
International Criminal Court
- On 14 May 2013 the Comoros, a party to the Rome Statute since 2006, referred "the 31 May 2010 Israeli raid on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for Gaza Strip" to the ICC prosecutor.[11] The court had jurisdiction because the Mavi Marmara was registered in the Comoros.[3] Israel Hayom described the Comoros as acting "under Turkish influence".[4]
- On 6 November 2014 the prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, found "a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes" had been committed on the Mavi Marmara when Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla, but decided the potential cases were not of "sufficient gravity" to justify an investigation.[3] The judges asked her to reconsider in July 2015 and again in November 2018. In September 2020 Pre-Trial Chamber I found that she had not genuinely reconsidered, but rejected the Comoros' request for a further review.[12]
- On 17 November 2023 the Comoros joined South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia and Djibouti in referring the situation in the State of Palestine to the ICC.[13]
Arms
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute records no Israeli deliveries of major weapons to the Comoros.[14]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list the Comoros separately in its main table of trade by country. The Comoros falls under "Other Countries".[15]
Migration and aliyah
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list the Comoros separately in its table of immigrants by country of birth.[16]
Political interference
UN voting
In September 2025 the Comoros voted for the General Assembly's endorsement of the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[17]
Jeffrey Epstein
- On 9 April 2012 a correspondent whose name is redacted wrote to Jeffrey Epstein: "have you looked into the Comorros? GDP growth rate 12.3% sort of a small gangster place but perhaps a nice place to invest."[18]
- On 11 June 2013 Epstein asked another correspondent: "somaliland , yemen, comoros island , are there any gates program there". The reply was "No", followed by a second message saying there "may be some" benefit "indirectly from the GAVI or Global Fund efforts that provide vaccines".[19][20]
See also
- Mavi Marmara
- Abraham Accords
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Somalia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Djibouti
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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 2.3 Lazar Berman, Israel expects to establish ties with Comoros, Maldives next -- sources The Times of Israel, 5 January 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 International Criminal Court, Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, on concluding the preliminary examination of the situation referred by the Union of Comoros icc-cpi.int, 6 November 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Ariel Kahana, Israel said to be in normalization talks with East Africa's Comoros Israel Hayom, 19 October 2021.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel in talks with Comoros to establish normalisation ties Middle East Monitor, 19 October 2021.
- ↑ Benyamin Neuberger, Israel's Relations with the Third World (1948–2008) S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies, Tel Aviv University, October 2009.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Rina Bassist, Comoros could be next to normalize ties with Israel Al-Monitor, October 2021.
- ↑ Barak Ravid, סומליה ואיי קומורו הסכימו לשלוח נציגים לכינוס שרי החוץ של פורום הנגב (Somalia and the Comoros agreed to send representatives to the Negev Forum foreign ministers' meeting) Walla, 28 June 2023.
- ↑ International Criminal Court, ICC Prosecutor receives referral by the authorities of the Union of the Comoros in relation to the events of May 2010 on the vessel 'MAVI MARMARA' icc-cpi.int, May 2013.
- ↑ International Criminal Court, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects Comoros' request for judicial review of the Prosecutor's decision not to open an investigation icc-cpi.int, 16 September 2020.
- ↑ International Criminal Court, Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim A.A. Khan KC, on the Situation in the State of Palestine: receipt of a referral from five States Parties icc-cpi.int, 17 November 2023.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).
- ↑ Email to Jeffrey Epstein (sender redacted), "have you looked into the Comorros?", 9 April 2012, DOJ Epstein Files release (Dataset 10), EFTA02015767 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Email to Jeffrey Epstein (sender redacted), "Re:", 11 June 2013, DOJ Epstein Files release (Dataset 9), EFTA00962987 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Email to Jeffrey Epstein (sender redacted), "Re:", 11 June 2013, DOJ Epstein Files release (Dataset 9), EFTA00962988 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.