Israel–South Sudan Relations

South Sudan declared independence on July 9, 2011, and Israel recognized the new state the following day.[1][10] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned President Salva Kiir on July 10 to congratulate him and offered Israeli assistance in infrastructure, communications, and agriculture.[6] Netanyahu told Kiir that Israel would help the new country "in any way."[10]

On July 15, 2011, South Sudan announced its intention to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.[6] An Israeli delegation led by Likud MK Danny Danon visited South Sudan in August to discuss the relationship, with Danon presenting Israel's technological capabilities as potentially complementary to South Sudan's natural resources, including oil, lead, and copper.[6] Kiir declared publicly that same month that South Sudan would maintain its relations with Israel despite pressure from Arab countries.[10]

Full diplomatic relations were formally announced on July 28, 2011.[2] Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that cooperation would rest on "friendship based on equality and mutual respect," with reciprocal ambassadorial appointments to follow.[2] South Sudan became the 155th of the 193 UN member states to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.[6]

President Kiir made his first official visit to Israel in December 2011 — a 24-hour trip during which he met Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Lieberman.[10] Peres stated that Israel had supported and would continue to support South Sudan "in all areas," while Kiir credited Israel with having struggled alongside South Sudan in its establishment and said his country wanted to learn from Israel's experience.[11] Netanyahu announced that an Israeli delegation would travel to South Sudan in early 2012 to examine development-assistance priorities.[10]

During an Israeli delegation's August 2011 visit to South Sudan, and again during his December 2011 trip to Israel, Kiir said his country intended to establish its embassy in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv — a statement that drew particular note because most countries located their missions in Tel Aviv and because Jerusalem's status was internationally contested at the time.[6]

Haim Koren, a former director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Political Planning Division, was appointed Israel's first ambassador to South Sudan, serving on a non-residential basis.[6] Ruben Marial Benjamin presented his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin on December 10, 2014, becoming South Sudan's first ambassador to Israel; he recalled at the ceremony that South Sudanese army officers had been trained in Israel during the 1969 war.[12] South Sudan subsequently opened an embassy in Israel; a report published in September 2017 said this had occurred during the preceding year.[13] A diplomatic-missions table attributed to the Israeli Foreign Ministry lists an Israeli embassy in Juba, with relations established in July 2011.[14]

Israeli engagement with southern Sudan predates South Sudan's independence by more than four decades. The first reported contact between southern Sudanese fighters and the Israeli government occurred in 1967, when an Anyanya rebel commander wrote to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol seeking assistance.[4] A separate account by former Israeli ambassador Haim Koren dates the beginning of what he called "practical relations" to 1968, when Golda Meir agreed to send Mossad operatives to the region.[4] These accounts describe different milestones and give different dates, reflecting the covert and largely undocumented nature of the early connection.

Israel provided advice and assistance to southern Sudanese forces during the First Sudanese Civil War, while separate reporting describes Israeli advisers to the Anyanya movement and, during the 1983–2005 war, training for Sudan People's Liberation Army leaders who traveled to Israel.[6][4] Another account says Israeli equipment and training for the Anyanya rebels began as early as 1968 and later extended to the SPLA, continuing until South Sudan's independence in 2011.[3] Israel's approach to the region has been framed by analysts through the lens of the "periphery doctrine" — cultivating alliances with non-Arab states at the edges of the Arab world — and as a counter to Sudan's alignment with pan-Arab causes; these are interpretive frameworks offered by researchers rather than official Israeli characterizations.[6]

Shimon Peres later said that he and Prime Minister Eshkol had met southern Sudanese leaders in Paris in the 1960s and provided assistance in agriculture and infrastructure.[10] Secondary reporting states that Mossad personnel and IDF officers assisted rebels in southern Sudan in the early 1970s, though this historical claim rests on reporting rather than primary records.[1] The Israeli government declined to comment on reports of military training provided to the SPLA.[4]

The American Jewish Committee established its Africa Institute in 2006 and played an early role in building civil-society bridges.[6] AJC Africa Institute director Eliseo Neuman visited South Sudan in 2008 — three years before independence — alongside the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and Samaritan's Purse, to explore how assistance might be provided ahead of statehood.[13][6] South Sudanese public-health officials visited Israel in October 2010 to examine potential joint projects, reflecting growing bilateral engagement before formal diplomatic ties were established.[6]

Israel was among the first countries to assist the newly established South Sudan through transfers of knowledge and resources, with cooperation spanning water systems, infrastructure, technology, agriculture, natural-resource development, science and technology, education, and defense.[5] A principal Israeli vehicle for this engagement has been MASHAV — the Agency for International Development Cooperation, established in 1957 within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[6] By 2012, MASHAV had operated in 132 countries across fields including agriculture, medicine and public health, education, and community development.[6] Israeli diplomats and MASHAV advisers maintained contact with South Sudanese leaders and administered an extensive aid program focused predominantly on agriculture.[6]

Specific cooperative projects identified in the region include a model agricultural farm in East Equatoria and renovation of the emergency and trauma ward at Juba's main hospital.[5] A farm established beside Jebel Lado by the Israeli company Global CST employed local people, taught agricultural skills, built a 16-kilometer water pipeline from the Nile, and contributed toward a clinic for residents of the surrounding area.[15] University cooperation was extended across the country.[5] A 2018 Israeli delegation purchased 20 tons of food in Juba — including rice, pasta, oil, sugar, salt, and tomato paste — for distribution in three villages outside the city, with food distributed directly to women after earlier concerns that chiefs had retained donated supplies.[15]

Before independence, MASHAV worked with UNHCR in Nairobi to assist South Sudanese refugees at Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp, which housed more than 75,000 displaced people.[6] MASHAV established and equipped an eye clinic there, staffed by Israeli ophthalmologists who periodically performed sight-restoring procedures and treated eye disease.[6] Israel and American Jewish organizations also provided $75,000 in assistance to Sudanese refugees in UNHCR camps in Chad.[6]

Following President Kiir's December 2011 visit to Israel, both governments held a further meeting in March 2012 that placed refugee issues high on the agenda. The discussions covered Sudanese refugees in Israel and access for Sudanese Christian pilgrimages to Israel.[6] Israel agreed to provide vocational training to refugees prior to repatriation, and South Sudan agreed to establish a Hebrew-language school in Juba.[6]

In August 2017, Israeli relief teams coordinated by MASHAV and the Israeli embassy in Juba provided and distributed more than six tons of food aid to a drought-stricken South Sudanese village, with government officials, representatives of Israeli humanitarian groups, and Israeli ambassador Hanan Goder participating in the distribution.[16][17]

In 2023, Israel and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in agriculture, water management, and construction development.[18] In August 2025, Israel announced urgent humanitarian assistance for South Sudan amid a severe cholera outbreak, citing more than 80,000 confirmed cases and approximately 1,400 associated deaths as of July 7, 2025.[19] The planned supplies included medical equipment, water-purification systems, hygiene kits, and food packages, coordinated by MASHAV together with Israeli NGO IsraAID, which was already operating in the country.[19] A separate $290,000 arrangement involving IsraAID provided aid to refugees, including hygiene items, food parcels, nutrition support, and treatment for malnutrition; Israeli officials cited logistical, security, and access constraints as reasons for channeling distribution through the NGO.[20] Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar described the assistance during his July 2025 hosting of South Sudanese Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba in Jerusalem, noting that South Sudan had absorbed more than one million refugees from the neighboring war in Sudan and that an estimated 9.3 million people in the country required humanitarian assistance.[18]

A 2024 study examining Israeli foreign aid and UN voting patterns from 2012 to 2021 found that Israeli aid helped promote bilateral relations with South Sudan and several other East African states, though it did not find that the countries' voting patterns at the UN General Assembly shifted measurably in Israel's favor as a result.[21]

South Sudan has been characterized as one of Israel's most consistent supporters in international forums. An INSS analysis, citing former Israeli ambassador Haim Koren, describes South Sudan as among Israel's most reliable backers at the United Nations.[3] South Sudan's ambassador to Israel, Wol Mayar Ariec, called South Sudan "A true friend of Israel" and said it may be the only country where every person would be proud to hold up an Israeli flag.[13] The AJC has described South Sudan as "one of the most vocally pro-Israel countries on the continent."[13]

An analysis of UN General Assembly votes from 2015 to 2018 found that South Sudan tended to abstain or be absent from some anti-Israel votes, though it did not identify a clear pattern of voting affirmatively in Israel's favor.[5] South Sudan abstained on the December 21, 2017 draft resolution regarding US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[5] In June 2018, it was among 45 countries that abstained on a resolution concerning an international force for Gaza.[5] In December 2018, South Sudan voted in support of a draft resolution condemning Hamas, though that resolution did not pass.[5]

At the June 13, 2018 UN General Assembly emergency special session, South Sudan voted alongside Liberia and Togo in favor of a US amendment condemning Hamas — one of only three African countries to do so.[22] The amendment received a majority of votes but fell short of the two-thirds threshold required for passage.[22]

Analysts have offered several explanations for South Sudan's broadly supportive stance toward Israel: gratitude stemming from Israel's historical support for southern rebels during their independence struggle; a shared sense of alienation from Arab countries; South Sudanese Christians' view of Israel as the cradle of Christianity; and — as a possible additional factor — South Sudan's interest in building closer ties with the United States through its alignment with Israel at the UN.[3][5] These explanations are analytical assessments rather than official South Sudanese statements of policy.

In 2018, Hanan Goder served as Israel's nonresident ambassador to South Sudan, living in Israel and traveling to South Sudan approximately once every three months to meet senior officials, conduct humanitarian work, and assess conditions on the ground — a practice common among foreign ambassadors to the country at the time.[15]

In July 2025, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar hosted South Sudanese Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba in Jerusalem, thanking him for South Sudan's support for Israel and discussing the humanitarian crisis driven by the war in neighboring Sudan.[18] Kumba's visit included meetings with Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, President Isaac Herzog, and Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen, as well as tours of historical sites.[23]

In August 2025, Deputy Foreign Minister Haskel traveled to South Sudan in what her office described as Israel's first official governmental delegation to the country.[24] During the visit she met President Salva Kiir Mayardit, Foreign Minister Kumba, Deputy Foreign Minister Equator Bona Malwal Madur, and Speaker Nunu Kumba; signed a diplomatic memorandum of understanding; and visited an Israeli-supported trauma center that she said had saved dozens of children's lives.[25] The planned agenda covered cooperation in health, education, technology, agriculture, and energy, as well as civilian and security development and humanitarian assistance in light of the crisis in neighboring Sudan.[24]

In September 2026, Foreign Minister Sa'ar nominated Tami Ben-Haim to serve as Israel's nonresident ambassador to South Sudan, pending approval by the ministerial committee for foreign-service appointments and the full government.[26] A 2023 JCFA analysis described the two countries as having "special relations" with shared interests in regional politics and the Red Sea, and suggested that Sudan might use Israel's ties with South Sudan to facilitate mediation on unresolved bilateral issues — though no specific agreements or diplomatic mechanisms were identified.[27]

Several aspects of Israel–South Sudan relations have attracted criticism or dispute. Israeli security assistance has been a significant but contested element of the relationship. An INSS analysis reported that Israeli-made Galil assault rifles were among the main weapons identified — citing an Amnesty International report — as in use during South Sudan's civil war, which began in 2013.[3][7] The same analysis described Israeli assistance to South Sudan's Ministry of Internal Security to install and operate surveillance equipment for internal monitoring, and noted that public information on Israeli security exports is incomplete, particularly for light weapons and deals brokered through third parties.[3]

Attorney Eitay Mack publicly alleged that Israel supplied South Sudan with weapons, ammunition, and training during the civil war; the Israeli Defense Ministry declined to comment on sales to a particular country, while a ministry official said that export policy considered human rights and that civil conflict had consequences for export decisions.[7] The destination and end-use of the weapons — whether intended for the internal conflict or for South Sudan's separate confrontation with Sudan — were disputed.[7]

Israel's 2012 migration policy toward South Sudanese nationals living in Israel also generated tension. The Interior Ministry directed South Sudanese nationals to leave by March 2012, arguing they no longer required protection following independence, and offered a one-time payment of $1,300, a plane ticket, and voluntary repatriation assistance.[6] The matter was litigated, and on June 9, 2012, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that South Sudanese nationals could be deported.[6] Israeli authorities assisted voluntary departures with flights and financial assistance; Israel's nonresident ambassador reportedly told South Sudan's vice president that asylum seekers would receive skills training before repatriation.[11] Migrant advocates expressed concern that South Sudan was not safe or adequately equipped to receive returnees at that time.[11]

In 2025, reports emerged that Israel had discussed with South Sudan a possible arrangement for resettling Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan. South Sudan's foreign affairs ministry rejected the claim, stating: "These claims are baseless and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan."[8] Deputy Foreign Minister Haskel separately stated that the subject was not discussed in her meetings during the August 2025 visit.[9] A later report citing three Reuters sources described ongoing discussions about such an arrangement, while no agreement was reported and the scope of any talks remained disputed.[9]