Israel–Uganda Relations

Security assistance and civilian development have both been prominent in relations between Israel and Uganda: early cooperation included military instruction, agricultural development, and construction, while later cooperation extended to medical aid and the renovation of military aircraft.[1][3] The relationship therefore encompasses both the training and equipment of Ugandan security institutions and programs intended to strengthen civilian skills and infrastructure.[1][3]

Formal diplomatic relations were restored on July 30, 1994.[2] During Benjamin Netanyahu’s February 2020 visit, the two governments discussed the possible opening of embassies in Kampala and Jerusalem rather than announcing completed openings.[3] A 2023 Jerusalem Post commentary said neither country then had a resident ambassador in the other and described Kenya as a diplomatic bridge; in October 2026, Israel’s Nairobi-based ambassador remained accredited to Uganda.[6][7]

The Entebbe rescue remains a particularly visible historical connection between the countries.[4] In 2016, Netanyahu led an Israeli delegation to Entebbe Airport for the operation’s fortieth anniversary; his brother, Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, had been killed during the rescue.[4] A Ugandan memorial unveiled in 2026 subsequently linked remembrance of the Israeli commander with public expressions of friendship and security partnership.[5]

Israel and Uganda established diplomatic ties in 1962 and soon concluded agreements for Israeli training of Ugandan intelligence, police, military, and paramilitary personnel.[1] Four Ugandans qualified as pilots in Israel in August 1963.[1] By 1965, Israel was supplying arms and equipment to Uganda’s security services, helping establish its air force, and training pilots, artillery officers, and paratroopers.[1]

Military assistance expanded after Congolese aircraft bombed villages in western Uganda in 1965.[1] Israel provided six armed Fouga Magister jet trainers and three DC-3 Dakota transport aircraft.[1] Approximately 50 Israeli instructors had been assigned to the training effort by early 1967, while Israeli assistance also supported agricultural development and construction projects.[1] These activities combined the creation of military capabilities with civilian development work.[1]

Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s 1966 African visit helped strengthen links between Israeli political and military officials and the Ugandan army.[8] Israeli experts assisted in establishing Uganda’s air force, and the Israeli construction company Solel Boneh undertook projects around the country, including Entebbe airport.[8] Ugandan officers participated in Israeli military training, and Idi Amin later made an official visit to Israel as Uganda’s president.[8]

The relationship developed within a wider period of Israeli engagement with sub-Saharan Africa.[9] Israel’s diplomatic relations in the region began in the 1950s, and by the early 1970s it maintained full relations with 33 sub-Saharan countries.[9] Those relationships included economic ties and joint ventures as well as diplomatic cooperation.[9] Official ties were gradually renewed from the 1980s and had been reestablished with about 40 sub-Saharan countries by the late 1990s.[9] Uganda’s break with Israel occurred in March 1972, before the wider wave of African diplomatic ruptures that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur War and oil crisis.[1][9]

Relations became strained in the late 1960s as President Milton Obote strengthened Uganda’s ties with Sudan and sought to prevent Israel from using Ugandan territory to supply the southern Sudanese liberation movement, the Anya Nya.[1] Amin, then the army’s commander and increasingly at odds with Obote, helped keep those supply routes open.[1] After taking power in 1971, Amin initially restored friendly relations with Israel.[1]

In early 1972, Amin changed direction while seeking Libyan financial and military assistance.[1] The restoration of peace in Sudan and Israel’s rejection of his request for military equipment also preceded his decision to expel Israeli advisers and other resident Israelis and sever diplomatic relations in March 1972.[1] Israel promptly imposed a trade embargo on Uganda.[1] Libya supplied concrete assistance to bolster Amin against Ugandan exiles based in Tanzania, dispatching approximately 400 troops and quantities of military equipment during 1972.[10]

On June 27, 1976, Palestinian and German terrorists hijacked an Air France airliner during a stop in Athens and diverted it to Entebbe with Amin’s cooperation.[4][11] The hijackers released passengers who did not appear to be Israeli or Jewish, while the captain and crew chose to remain with the hostages.[4] They demanded the release of imprisoned terrorists and other members of their organizations.[4]

Israeli forces carried out the rescue on July 4 in an operation originally codenamed Operation Thunderbolt.[4] The plan included a motorcade intended to resemble Amin’s; a suitable Mercedes limousine was obtained and spray-painted to match the appearance required for the deception.[4] During the rescue, an Israeli soldier called to the hostages in Hebrew and English: “Lie down, don’t get up. The army is here, the army is here.”[4]

Yonatan Netanyahu was killed shortly after the first Israeli aircraft landed.[4] All of the hijackers and at least 20 Ugandan soldiers were killed, and 102 hostages and crew members were flown out; four people were declared dead or missing.[4]

Dora Bloch, a hostage who had been taken to a local hospital before the raid, was murdered afterward on Amin’s orders.[8] Following Amin’s overthrow, Uganda’s new government returned her body to Israel.[8] The raid’s immediate regional aftermath included increased tensions between Uganda and Kenya and concern that Amin might retaliate against Kenya.[10] Libya promised support and offered to replace aircraft damaged in the raid, although rhetoric exceeded serious military preparations during the following two weeks.[10]

After Amin’s overthrow, subsequent Ugandan governments, including that of Yoweri Museveni, continued for a period to support the African boycott of Israel.[1] Formal bilateral relations were eventually restored on July 30, 1994, ending the diplomatic rupture that had begun in 1972.[2]

The renewal of relations in 1994 was followed by steadily improving bilateral ties, including security exports and civilian cooperation.[3] The restoration took place during a broader revival of Israel’s relations with sub-Saharan Africa, where diplomatic renewals had begun in the 1980s.[9]

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman visited Uganda in September 2009 as part of a tour that also included Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria.[3] The tour formed part of a wider Israeli effort to strengthen diplomatic engagement with sub-Saharan African countries.[3]

Netanyahu visited Uganda in the first week of July 2016 during a tour of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.[9] It was the first visit to East Africa by a sitting Israeli prime minister since 1987.[12] At Entebbe Airport on July 4, Israeli and Ugandan representatives commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the rescue operation.[4] The Israeli delegation was headed by Netanyahu, whose brother’s death gave the commemoration a direct family connection.[4]

Uganda also hosted a summit at which Netanyahu met leaders from Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia.[13] Their joint statement committed them to counterterrorism cooperation through intelligence sharing and new technologies, including cybersecurity.[13] It also identified water management, agriculture, medicine, renewable energy, and sustainable development as potential areas of broader cooperation.[13] Israel’s wider aims for the African tour included combining security and agricultural assistance with greater support in international forums.[14]

During another visit in early February 2020, Netanyahu met Museveni and discussed cooperation in civilian affairs, the economy, health, water, energy, communications, and agriculture.[15] Netanyahu also met Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan while in Uganda.[3] The Israeli and Ugandan leaders discussed the possible opening of embassies in Kampala and Jerusalem, but did not announce that either embassy had opened.[3]

Israel’s diplomatic network lists both a Ugandan honorary consul in Israel and an Israeli honorary consul in Uganda.[16] In October 2026, Uganda remained among the countries served by Israel’s Nairobi-based ambassador, Gideon Behar, whose accreditation also covered Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Seychelles.[7] This nonresident arrangement is distinct from the existence of diplomatic relations themselves.[2][7]

Israeli assistance to Uganda’s air force continued to feature in the renewed relationship, including aircraft renovation, the supply of security equipment, pilot training, and fighter-aircraft updates.[3] Israeli personnel also trained Ugandan special forces.[3] Some aircraft supported by this cooperation participated in Uganda’s campaign against the Lord’s Resistance Army.[3]

Individual aviation projects did not all follow the same course.[17] A 2001 report identified an Israeli company’s contract to upgrade Ugandan MiG-21 aircraft but stated that the project was subsequently frozen.[17] The same report separately noted an Israel Aircraft Industries Bedek project involving upgrades to Uganda’s Hercules C-130 transports.[17] Later accounts of renewed cooperation described arms deals, counterterrorism collaboration, intelligence exchanges, and Israeli help in rebuilding Uganda’s air force.[8]

An Israeli military delegation visited Uganda in early 2019 to discuss expanding defense cooperation.[15] The subjects included collaboration against terrorism and further professionalization of the Uganda People’s Defence Force.[15] In 2022, Uganda and Kenya decided through a memorandum of understanding to reinvigorate defense ties with Israel.[18] Cybersecurity was another area of cooperation, with Israel’s National Cyber Directorate coordinating with Ugandan counterparts.[18]

Security cooperation has also intersected with regional concerns involving Sudan and Somalia and with arrangements concerning Sudanese and Eritrean people sent from Israel to Uganda.[11] Uganda allowed the passage of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers repatriated by Israel within a relationship that also involved Israeli security exports.[3] The reported connection between migration arrangements and particular military supplies became a sensitive aspect of the bilateral relationship.[11]

In 2011, Israel’s Mekorot National Water Company signed an agreement with Uganda’s government-owned National Water and Sewerage Corporation for water-infrastructure development.[19] Mekorot Development and Initiatives was to implement the work, initially in Karamoja in northeastern Uganda, with financing provided by the Ugandan government.[19] The planned program comprised 11 dams and reservoirs intended to supply water to two million residents.[19] Local contractors were to work under Mekorot’s planning, management, and supervision; these figures described the proposed program rather than verified completed facilities.[19]

Agricultural cooperation included a 2012 memorandum of understanding between Israel’s international development agency, MASHAV, and USAID covering Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda.[20] The framework formed part of the Feed the Future initiative, intended to increase agricultural production and rural incomes.[20] Israel was to contribute expertise in applied agricultural research, irrigation, water technologies, and production in arid zones, while USAID would provide funding.[20] Training, capacity-building, gender issues, and climate adaptation were included in the framework.[20]

In September 2014, Museveni sent 200 Ugandan university students to Israel for a one-year agricultural internship.[15] The students worked and studied on Israeli farms, received a daily stipend, and were tested and awarded agricultural-studies diplomas at the end of the program.[15] Its purpose was to provide farming knowledge that participants could apply after returning to Uganda.[15]

Medical cooperation included an Israeli-built trauma center at Mulago referral hospital in Kampala.[21] An August 2012 account of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s planned Uganda visit included the center’s inauguration and an Israeli offer to donate ambulances to Ugandan health centers.[21] The offer did not itself establish that the ambulances had been delivered.[21] Health cooperation and agricultural modernization were both identified as areas for strengthening bilateral work.[21]

The countries signed a new air-transport agreement in December 2017 at an International Civil Aviation Organization conference in Sri Lanka.[22] It was part of a set of Israeli agreements with ten countries intended to permit additional flights, new routes, and more airline codeshare arrangements.[22] The agreement did not itself establish that direct Israel–Uganda flights had begun.[22]

Israeli companies were operating in Uganda by the time of a 2016 account of the renewed relationship.[8] A 2023 Jerusalem Post commentary characterized contemporary cooperation as largely economically driven and described Kenya as a diplomatic bridge between the countries.[6] The commentary reported that Uganda’s largest exports to Israel in 2021 were fish fillets, coffee, and perfume plants, while Israel’s largest export to Uganda was broadcasting accessories.[6] It also reported that Museveni had visited Israel twice since taking office in 1986.[6]

On August 1, 2026, Uganda unveiled a memorial to Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu at Entebbe’s old airport terminal, fifty years after his death during the rescue operation.[5] Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, presented the memorial as a testament to friendship, security partnership, and mutual trust between the countries.[5] He also commemorated the Ugandan soldiers killed during the operation and characterized Amin’s government as a brutal dictatorship that did not represent the Ugandan people.[5]

The commemoration also remembered the civilian hostages and connected the memorial with cooperation in security, innovation, and sustainable development.[15] Together with the fortieth-anniversary ceremony in 2016, it illustrates how the rescue’s remembrance has become part of official bilateral engagement.[4][5] The 2026 commemoration acknowledged both the Israeli commander and Ugandan losses rather than reproducing Amin’s government’s position.[5]

Closer bilateral ties have not necessarily translated into greater support for Israel in multilateral voting.[23] A 2024 academic study examined Israeli foreign aid and United Nations General Assembly voting in five East African countries, including Uganda, using data from 2012 through 2021.[23] It found that aid helped promote bilateral relations with the countries studied but did not improve their voting patterns in Israel’s favor.[23] That result applied to the five-country group and was not a separately calculated finding for Uganda.[23]

The role of Israeli military advisers in Amin’s efforts to oust Obote remains controversial; possible assistance during the 1971 coup is not established as a definitive account.[1] Explanations of the 1972 rupture also differ in emphasis: the refusal to supply military equipment appears alongside Amin’s pursuit of Libyan aid and changes in Sudan, while another account places particular weight on Golda Meir’s refusal to sell Phantom aircraft.[1][8]

The Entebbe rescue prompted a contemporary diplomatic dispute: the UN Security Council’s July 9, 1976 meeting considered a complaint from Mauritius’s prime minister, then chair of the Organization of African Unity, describing Israel’s action as an “act of aggression” against Uganda.[24] This was the complaint’s characterization, distinct from the operation’s hostage-rescue purpose.[4][24]

A reported 2013 arrangement involving Sudanese and Eritrean people sent to Uganda envisaged their eventual return to their countries of origin; the associated claim that Israel would provide artillery shells, mortars, and fighter-aircraft upgrades rested on a newspaper report reproduced in a later analysis.[11] A separate 2016 account reported Uganda’s agreement to receive hundreds of African migrants from Israel without establishing implementation.[8] During the Gaza war, Uganda used ambiguous or neutral language, or did not comment, despite maintaining good bilateral relations; its government also distanced itself from Ugandan judge Julia Sebutinde’s pro-Israeli ruling at the International Court of Justice.[25]