Israel–Rwanda Relations

Israel and Rwanda established diplomatic relations in 1962.[1] Rwanda gained independence from Belgium on July 1 of that year.[2] Historian and former Israeli diplomat Arye Oded writes that Israel responded soon afterward to an urgent Rwandan request for medical assistance, motivated primarily by humanitarian considerations because Rwanda was economically and strategically unimportant to Israel at the time.[2]

Oded recounts that the early practical expression of the relationship was an Israeli medical mission. In 1963, while Israel's embassy in Uganda handled Rwandan affairs on a non-resident basis, Oded accompanied Professor Yitzhak Michaelson, director of ophthalmology at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, on a survey of eye conditions in Rwanda.[2] Israel subsequently sent an ophthalmologist — at that point the only one in the country — and Michaelson selected Rwandan nurses for further training in Israel.[2]

By the early 1970s, Israel was engaged enough in sub-Saharan Africa that a U.S. State Department research study noted plans to upgrade its representation in Rwanda to ambassadorial level amid heightened Arab diplomatic activity across Africa.[3] Those plans did not come to fruition before the relationship was disrupted. Rwanda severed diplomatic relations with Israel after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, during a broader wave of ruptures between Israel and African states.[1] Israel gradually restored relations with sub-Saharan African countries from the early 1980s onward.[2]

Israel and Rwanda renewed diplomatic relations in October 1994, with Israel's representation of Rwanda handled on a non-resident basis through its ambassador in Ethiopia.[4] The renewal came in the immediate aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, one of the defining catastrophes of the twentieth century.

Oded reports that Israel provided direct humanitarian assistance in 1994 at a cost of millions of dollars. The IDF organized an airlift of food and medicine, and Israeli doctors and nurses operated a field hospital in Rwanda for several months.[2] Israeli security exports to Rwanda also began officially in the early 1990s, according to analysis from the Institute for National Security Studies, which identifies these exports as one driver of the subsequent strengthening of ties.[5] Rwanda is also listed among African countries that received weapons from Israel during 2006–2010, according to data attributed to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.[6]

The shadow of the 1994 genocide has remained a recurring element of high-level exchanges. Israeli officials and analysts have drawn connections between the Jewish experience of the Holocaust and the genocide against the Tutsi. INSS analysis presents that parallel — without treating the events as equivalent — as one factor in Rwanda's identification with Israel in international contexts.[5] During Netanyahu's 2016 visit to Kigali, he visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial alongside President Kagame and described learning about the deaths of more than one million Tutsis as "jolting," connecting both peoples' histories in remarks about confronting incitement and the necessity of self-defense.[7] In July 2017, Netanyahu welcomed Kagame to Jerusalem and similarly described Israel and Rwanda as having a strong connection because both peoples had experienced genocide.[8]

The 2010s brought a sustained escalation in the intensity of diplomatic exchange between the two countries. In April 2008, government ministers from Rwanda, Burundi, Benin, and Liberia signed a joint declaration on trade and economic cooperation in Jerusalem with Israel's Minister of Trade and Industry, Eli Yishai, committing Israel to help participating countries develop infrastructure and technology and to seek new export markets for Israeli industries.[9] That same year, Israeli and Rwandan government representatives were among those expected to sign commercial cooperation declarations at an international business congress in Jerusalem, which also featured planned bilateral business meetings.[10]

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Rwanda in 2014, beginning a sequence of high-profile Israeli ministerial visits.[5] In July 2016, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia in what was described as the first visit by an Israeli leader to sub-Saharan Africa in 30 years.[9] During the Rwandan leg of the trip, Netanyahu and Kagame held a joint press conference at which the two countries' ambassadors signed declarations of intent on agriculture and other bilateral cooperation.[7] Netanyahu also convened a summit in Uganda with the leaders of seven African countries, covering cooperation in counterterrorism, energy, agriculture, and water technology.[9]

Rwandan President Paul Kagame visited Israel in July 2017, meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin. At a welcoming ceremony, Kagame called for expanding public- and private-sector cooperation, naming technology, agriculture, energy, and security as areas where the relationship had already grown, and invited Israeli private-sector delegations to Rwanda.[11] Netanyahu welcomed Kagame as a "great friend of Israel," and the two held both a one-on-one meeting and a broader expanded session.[12]

In November 2017, on the sidelines of a meeting in Nairobi, Netanyahu announced that Israel would open an embassy in Kigali, describing the decision as part of expanding Israel's presence in Africa.[13] The two leaders also discussed the possibility of a direct air route between the two countries.[13] An AJC report published in September 2017 said Rwanda had opened an embassy in Israel within the previous year, without specifying the opening date or location.[14] During a one-day visit to Kenya in November 2017, Netanyahu also met with the presidents of Rwanda and seven other African countries, as well as Ethiopia's prime minister.[9]

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Kigali on March 19, 2018 — described as the first visit to Rwanda by an Israeli defense minister — meeting President Kagame, Defense Minister James Kabarebe, and Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, and visiting the parliament building that had been damaged during Rwanda's civil war in the 1990s.[15] Lieberman characterized the visit as historically significant for bilateral relations.

Israel's first resident embassy in Rwanda was inaugurated in Kigali on April 1, 2019, headed by Ambassador Ron Adam.[16] Rwandan Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera and Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem participated in the ceremony. Israel's Foreign Ministry described the mission as enabling expanded cooperation in education, academia, women's empowerment, science and technology, innovation, and agriculture, while INSS characterized the opening as the moment when relations had "reached new heights."[16][5] Yoram Elron, writing at the time of the opening, noted that it made Israel's embassy in Kigali the eleventh Israeli embassy on the African continent.[17]

Agricultural development has been one of the most active channels of practical cooperation. Israel's MASHAV Agency for International Development Cooperation — an arm of Israel's Foreign Ministry — has operated programs in Rwanda since the early years of the relationship and has played a central role in more recent initiatives.[2]

In 2012, USAID and MASHAV signed a memorandum of understanding on food security that identified Rwanda among four African target countries. The framework covered potential joint aid projects and combined MASHAV's expertise in agricultural research, irrigation, water technologies, and arid-zone production with USAID funding; it also emphasized training, human-capacity building, gender issues, and climate adaptation.[18]

By 2016, MASHAV and the Rwandan Agricultural Board were developing a joint Center of Excellence for Horticultural Development approximately 12 kilometers west of Kigali. The center was designed to train farmers and agricultural professionals, adapt Israeli farming technology to local conditions, and improve fruit and vegetable production. MASHAV head Gil Haskel described an Israeli company's construction of greenhouses and the agricultural facility as "a present of the state of Israel to the republic of Rwanda." Plans for the center included developing post-harvest treatment and packaging capabilities, with stated goals of eventual self-sustainability and export-quality production.[19]

In September 2016, more than 100 Rwandan agronomists and agronomy students traveled to Israel for an 11-week internship through Kinneret Academic College and the Agrostudies Center. The program covered agricultural mechanization and irrigation alongside dairy production, sheep husbandry, poultry, fruit-tree farming, vegetable harvesting, and post-harvest techniques. The Rwandan government expected participants to help expand food exports and accelerate agricultural development upon returning home.[9]

Israeli enterprise has made a measurable contribution to Rwanda's energy infrastructure. An Israeli firm, Gigawatt Global, partnered with Norfund and Scatec Solar on a project to expand Rwanda's solar-energy capacity, beginning in February 2014. The first major solar-power farm in East Africa was completed in July 2014; its construction employed 350 local workers, and the facility increased Rwanda's power-generation capacity by six percent.[9] In its first year of operation, the plant produced 15 million kilowatt-hours and brought electricity to more than 15,000 underserved Rwandan residents.[9] An AJC delegation that visited the site observed that it connected directly to Rwanda's national grid and, at its launch, supplied seven percent of the country's total electricity needs.[20]

Technology cooperation has extended beyond energy. In November 2020, Israeli Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel visited Rwanda to sign an agreement promoting entrepreneurship in communications and technology, and met with President Kagame.[21] During that visit, Hendel asked Rwanda to consider moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; Kagame acknowledged that the question was on the agenda but said it presented a challenge and would require finding an appropriate moment, without committing to a decision.[21]

In 2021, Israel's embassy in Rwanda donated nearly $100,000 for computers and equipment for schools as part of the UN Children's Fund Giga project to connect schools to the internet. Rwanda had been chosen by the UN Broadband Commission in 2020 to lead implementation of the project across Africa, and Ambassador Ron Adam described the Israeli contribution as supporting Rwanda's goal of achieving a knowledge-based economy.[22]

An aviation agreement signed in early 2019 opened the way for direct commercial air service between the two countries.[23] RwandAir launched its first direct flight between Kigali and Ben-Gurion Airport in June 2019, with a reported flight time of six hours.[1] The airline's chief executive described Israel as its second Middle Eastern destination after Dubai and said the route was expected to support diplomatic ties while carrying business, tourist, and religious travelers from across Africa.[1] The scheduled service operated three weekly flights in each direction using Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with return fares starting at approximately $776.[23] A 2020 report noted that RwandAir had suspended the service that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Rwanda also demonstrated diplomatic solidarity with Israel in international forums. Israel's announcement that it would open an embassy in Kigali came alongside reporting that Rwanda had abstained in a 2014 UN Security Council vote on a resolution advancing a Palestinian statehood bid — an example cited as illustrating Rwanda's support for Israel in multilateral settings.[24]

Two sensitive matters have generated public controversy in the history of Israel–Rwanda relations: the question of Israeli arms sales to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, and a disputed arrangement concerning the transfer of African asylum seekers from Israel to Rwanda.

On the arms question, Israel's Supreme Court refused in 2016 to release records concerning Israeli weapons sales to Rwanda during the genocide, citing security and foreign-relations concerns under the Freedom of Information Act. Reporting described allegations that some weapons used in the genocide included Israeli-made bullets, grenades, and rifles, but the underlying sales documentation and the extent of any such sales remained sealed.[25]

The asylum-seeker issue is both more extensively documented and more contested. The 2014 U.S. State Department report on Rwanda said human-rights organizations reported that Israel deported several dozen Eritrean asylum seekers to Rwanda and that some were subsequently transported to Uganda.[26] The 2015 report on Israel said the government provided most departing migrants with paid tickets to Uganda or Rwanda, while UNHCR and nongovernmental organizations raised concerns about legal status, work rights, and possible refoulement.[27] The 2016 and 2017 Rwanda reports again recorded claims that Rwanda accepted Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers deported from Israel and that many were moved onward to Uganda; the 2017 report also recorded allegations concerning unstamped passports and withheld identity documents.[28][29] A 2018 report reproduced by the Jewish Virtual Library likewise said most migrants departing under Israel's voluntary-departure policy received paid tickets and recorded NGO and UNHCR concerns that they lacked residency and work rights after arrival.[30]

The existence of any formal arrangement between Israel and Rwanda was disputed and never publicly confirmed by both governments. Press reports and accounts from the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants described an agreement signed in 2013 that remained in force until 2018, with transfers beginning in 2014 — though these details were described as confidential.[31] In January 2018, Rwanda's government publicly denied signing a secret agreement with Israel, stating that it was willing to receive people seeking refuge only if they came of their own choice, "not by coercion."[32] Rwanda's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Olivier Nduhungirehe subsequently said no deal had been signed with Israel and that Rwanda's refugee policy applied only to people arriving without coercion.[33] Prime Minister Netanyahu, by contrast, asserted publicly that he had worked with Rwanda for two years to receive people deported from Israel without their consent, that Rwanda had agreed and transfers had commenced, and that Rwanda had subsequently backed out.[33]

Israel's Supreme Court issued an interim order halting enforcement of the forced-transfer procedure while petitions were pending; those petitions were later dismissed after Rwanda withdrew from the arrangement, rather than because the court had invalidated the policy on its merits.[31] Media reported in July 2018 that Israel had stopped offering voluntary departure to Rwanda.[30] The episode did not sever the broader diplomatic relationship: Israel proceeded to open its embassy in Kigali in April 2019, and bilateral cooperation in agriculture, technology, and education continued.