Dozens of illegal immigrants from Africa were arrested Dec. 29 in Tel Aviv at the end of a demonstration against their expulsion. Many of them are now on strike, protesting against Israel's intention to send them back to their countries of origin. Actions by Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been increasing on behalf of refugees from Sudan, Eritrea and neighboring countries, pushing the humanitarian issue to the forefront of public discourse.

The heavily reported public debate on the fate of undocumented African immigrants, however, scarcely touches on the full scope of Israeli-African relations, including the notable changes these relationships have undergone over the past few years. One indication of these changes would be Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman's planned tour of Africa, scheduled for the first half of 2014. This is not a trivial matter. Israeli foreign ministers spend most of their time visiting Washington and Brussels and other European capitals. African capitals are rarely at the top of their list of priorities. Nevertheless, in 2009 Liberman dedicated nine days to touring Africa, visiting Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria. He intended to visit the continent again in 2011, but preparations were cut short due to the announcement of early elections.

A visit by an Israeli prime minister to Africa is more difficult to recall. Yitzhak Shamir visited Cameroon in the 1980s. The precedent for his visit goes back to the 1960s, when Levy Eshkol embarked on a six-nation African tour. Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced anticipated visits to Kenya and Uganda, scheduled for 2012, only to cancel them later in favor of participating in an American Jewry annual event.

Though diplomatic ties with African states have been neglected to a large extent by Israeli politicians, cooperation in other domains, in particular in agriculture, has continued almost unabated, such as through learning programs for African rural development decision makers, demonstration farms, water management centers and other agricultural technology-related projects.