Sudan coup puts normalization with Israel in jeopardy
The military leadership in Sudan had pushed for normalization with Israel, but in a situation of political turmoil and without American support, it may now find the process difficult to advance.
France, the United States, the African Union and other international bodies all strongly reacted to the news from Sudan about a military coup. Israel, on the other hand, has kept silent. Israeli news outlets did not even get quotes from unnamed diplomats.
The stakes for Israel are high. Israeli journalist Barak Ravid tweeted Oct. 25 that several elements in the Israeli government have been involved recently in one way or another in Sudan’s domestic politics. “This raises big questions about what Israel knew over what is happening now in Khartoum and how much its moves have affected what is happening now,” he noted.
Though he did not say that Jerusalem had encouraged or was involved in what just transpired in Khartoum, Ravid’s words stirred controversy in Israel. His comments raised important questions about the nature of Israel’s relations with Sudan and how much the coup in Khartoum is expected to influence the ongoing normalization process.
In February 2020, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Uganda with head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. It was Netanyahu who then announced that the two countries intended to normalize ties. In December 2020, the United States agreed to remove Sudan from its blacklist of countries supporting terrorism. And in January 2021, Sudan signed onto the Abraham Accords as the fourth country to join the US-brokered agreement after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
