Somaliland: Crowds Wave Israeli Flags to Celebrate Jerusalem’s Recognition
The U.S. ‘studying’ Israel’s move, may not recognize Somaliland anytime soon, President Trump tells NYPost.
Thousands of people took to the streets and squares of Somaliland after Israel, on Friday, recognized the self-governed East African state as an independent nation. Crowds cheered as a huge Israeli flag was projected on a landmark building in the country’s capital.
Somaliland deserves this status. https://t.co/Uz5Jsj3Z7k
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) December 26, 2025
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel was recognizing “the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state,” making the Jewish state the first country to do so.
The celebrations across Somaliland came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s remarks suggesting the U.S. would not follow Israel in recognizing the tiny African state.
Establishing diplomatic relations with the country could give Israel a strategic edge in dealing with the Houthis, the Iran-backed terrorists running Yemen.
The residents of Erigavo city in eastern Somaliland took to the streets to warmly welcome the recognition granted to Somaliland by Israel, expressing their gratitude to the Government of Israel. pic.twitter.com/kxiLteBHvq
— Abdilahi Gee-maal 📸 (@Abdilahi2019) December 26, 2025
“Downtown Hargeisa [Somaliland’s capital] late on Friday was illuminated with the Israeli flag as residents of Somaliland’s capital celebrated Jerusalem’s decision to recognize their sovereignty,” Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported.
More footage from Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, tonight as it begins to edge out of three decades of formal diplomatic isolation through mutual ties with Israel. pic.twitter.com/ic3qmEnZoD
— Faisal (@FaisalAHAli) December 26, 2025
Israel’s Ynetnews reported:
Crowds poured into the streets of Hargeisa on Friday night, waving flags, chanting and celebrating Israel’s historic decision to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, a move that marked a diplomatic breakthrough for the self-governing region and sent a strong political signal across the Horn of Africa.
Videos circulating from Somaliland’s capital showed hundreds gathering in the city center, some draped in Israeli flags and others waving them from balconies and rooftops. In one clip, the Israeli flag was prominently displayed on a building overlooking a packed street, as music played and celebrants danced late into the night. The scenes reflected a rare public display of enthusiasm for Israel in a Muslim-majority society and underscored the significance of the moment for Somalilanders.
Videos circulating from Somaliland’s capital showed hundreds gathering in the city center, some draped in Israeli flags and others waving them from balconies and rooftops. In one clip, the Israeli flag was prominently displayed on a building overlooking a packed street, as music played and celebrants danced late into the night. The scenes reflected a rare public display of enthusiasm for Israel in a Muslim-majority society and underscored the significance of the moment for Somalilanders.
This is a historic and deeply meaningful moment for the people of Somaliland.
We warmly thank the Government of Israel for its principled decision to officially re-recognize the Republic of Somaliland on 26 December 2025.This is Hargeisa city, Somaliland. 💚🤍♥️. Thank you 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/MAWdlBKLea
— Mahdi Ismail (@mahedialsomal) December 26, 2025
Somaliland, formerly a British protectorate, briefly gained independence in 1960, only to be absorbed by neighbouring Somalia. In 1991, Somaliland broke away from the Communist-led regime of Somalia, resulting in decades-long armed conflict.
The Muslim-majority country, roughly the size of Florida, is strategically located in the Horn of Africa. With its 500 miles of coastline along the Gulf of Adan, the country is of “security importance” to Israel, the Tel Aviv-based think tank, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), observed in a recent report.
Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have been disrupting commercial shipping in the Gulf of Adan, one of the world’s busiest waterways. “Somaliland’s coastline and territory lie roughly 300 to 500 kilometers from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, including the port of Hodeidah,” the Israeli think tank notes. “Somaliland’s location—and the possibility of operating from its territory—could be a game changer” in countering the Houthi terror threat.
The U.S. ‘studying’ Israel’s move, may not recognize Somaliland anytime soon, President Trump tells NYPost
According to The New York Post, President Donald Trump may not recognize the East African state anytime soon. The country does not hold the same strategic significance for the U.S. as it does for Israel, the president seemed to indicate in an interview with the newspaper. “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” President Trump rhetorically asked.
The NY Post reported:
President Trump told The Post that he won’t quickly follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recognizing the independence of Somaliland — saying he has to “study” his longtime Mideast ally’s pitch on behalf of the breakaway republic.(…)
“Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump asked aloud from his golf course in West Palm Beach.
Trump sounded unimpressed by the Muslim-majority state offering to join the Abraham Accords — through which Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE established relations with Israel — and equally unimpressed by Somaliland’s offer of land for a US naval base near the mouth of the Red Sea.
‘Angry’ reactions from some African states; Somalia-based al Qaeda vows to fight the ‘apostate’ gov’t of Somaliland
‘Angry’ reactions were reported from Somalia and the African Union, a grouping of 55 member states. Turkey, seeking stronger ties with Muslim countries such as Somalia, also condemned the Israeli decision.
French newspaper Le Monde reported Saturday:
Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily Friday, December 26, after Israel formally recognized its northern region of Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” – the first country to do so. (…)
But a Somali foreign ministry statement warned the decision was a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty that would undermine peace in the region. Several other countries also condemned Israel’s decision. The African Union said it “firmly rejects” Israel’s move, warning: “Any attempt to undermine the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Somalia…risks setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.” Somaliland “remains an integral part of the Federal Republic of Somalia”, which is a member of the AU, the pan-African body’s head, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, said.
Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned the move. “This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy…constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs”, it said in a foreign ministry statement. Egypt’s foreign ministry said its top diplomat had spoken with his counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti, who together condemned the move and emphasized “full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia”.
The terrorist group Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, threatened to wage war if Israel developed closer ties with Somaliland. The Israeli government, on Friday, had promised to help the East African country in the fields of agriculture, health, and commerce.
The Israeli move was also met with angry protests and some calls for jihad in the streets of Somalia.
Here is the video with subtitles showing the foolish terrorists based in Mogadishu threatening to attack Somaliland after Israel’s recognition. The world needs to see that Somalia poses a threat to the peaceful and democratic Republic of Somaliland.
God bless Somaliland https://t.co/1dVZAFkN6y pic.twitter.com/6UWBV4WUnz
— Ducaysane somalilander💚★❤️ (@Ducaysane17) December 27, 2025
The Times of Israel reported:
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked terror group Al-Shabaab vowed Saturday to fight any attempt by Israel “to claim or use parts of Somaliland” following its recognition of the breakaway territory.
“We will not accept it, and we will fight against it,” Al-Shabaab said in a statement.
It said Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state showed it “has decided to expand into parts of the Somali territories” to support “the apostate administration in the northwest regions.”
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Comments
I am happy for Somaliland, and they are a natural ally for Israel, just like Kurdistan. Both countrues should be recognized by the United States, as we have way more inc ommon with tem then our supposed “friends” Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It’s inspiring to see how little Somaliland has thrived while the basket case Somalia has sunk. Israel leads the way for other ethnic minority groups in the region demonstrating national pride, sovereignty, a sense of purpose, and self determination work against terrorism, the muslim brotherhood and the Houthi-Iranian axis of evil.
It is every peoples’ natural right to establish a government to serve them so as to; “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity”
… or so we once thought.
Even the Confederacy had that right.
Even Lincoln had that right — when the issue was Texas seceding from Mexico. Then he went all Democrat on us, while actual Democrats didn’t let him live his hypocrisy down.
The first Republican president, who fulfilled the party’s primary goal, “went all Democrat on us” because he didn’t let the Confederates get away with starting a war?
I am a Northerner, yet I understand that the north intentionally destroyed the south for political reasons, and that slavery represented a good excuse to do so. Slavery would have ended without the Civil War.
Frankly, I am tired of Black schemers & grifters. I am not saying that all black people are bad, but the percentage who are is far above acceptable numbers. Some people make far too many bad choices.
It is the conceit of hindsight and more than a century of blather to subscribe to such notions as the Lost Cause’s fabled ‘war of Northern Agression’
There was one single sticking point that created the Confederacy–everything else could be negotiated.
Except slavery.
And anyone who denies that slavery was the central issue has never read the Confederacy’s founding documents.
The fashion these days among the ‘enlightened’ right is to aid in the Democrats attempts to claim Lincoln as their own by wholehearted adopting the positions of the Democrats losers of the Civil War.
Even as modern Democrats work tirelessly to create a quasi-slave system using illegal laborers that are utterly beholden to their Democrat accomplices.
Yes, that is ezactly what I’m saying.
Lincoln declared martial law, suspended habeas corpus, imprisoned dissident congressmen, and — worst of all — unarguably and GROSSLY flipflopped on the question of secession when it served his aims. All of these offenses were characterized by force over principle, what we recognize today as a primal Democrat hallmark.
Perhaps it would behoove you to read what some notable conservatives have to say on this subject, once all the hagiographers have vacated the banquet hall.
It’s amazing what you can learn for under a Jackson.
Dolce: “Even the Confederacy had that right.”
Henry: “Even Lincoln had that right.”
I think you’re using the word “right” in two completely different senses, and thus talking at cross purposes.
Dolce seems to be saying “Even the Confederacy was entitled to establish a government, etc.”
Henry seems to be saying “Even Lincoln once held the correct position about the right to establish a government, before reversing himself.
If Dolce meant “right” in the same sense as Henry, then no, the Confederacy didn’t “have it right”, because it wrote its constitution to ban secession. Thus it could not argue that secession was an inherent and unalienable right; its argument was merely that secession wasn’t prohibited by the US constitution, through an oversight of the founders, and in its own constitution it would close that loophole.
Lincoln, meanwhile, supported the Texians’ right to secede from Mexico, but held that by joining the USA, which is an indissoluble union, the southern states waived any future right to secede from it.
Mount Sinai Hospital head trauma ward hardest hit, while NYC bomb squad investigators converge on Times HQ.
Looking forward to parts of the U.S.A. breaking away from the sclerotic U.S. government that works night and day for the replacement of its citizens.
Anyone who’s been paying attention to the area has known what it is for the last three decades. Trump may not personally have been doing so, but he has people who have, and who are well aware of it; he could have asked them for a briefing before speaking as if this is something new, something no one has heard of until yesterday.
Somaliland shows what a functioning government means to people. The opposite is just north of them.
I’m wondering why Turkey, who proclaims to be such a close ally of Somalia, doesn’t take in the boatloads of “refugee’s” from there and spare the West from the 5th century clans? In fact, if the African Union not to mention the Muslim World League which has some of the richest countries on Earth like Saudi Arabia cared about their fellow muslims why don’t they take them? Why is the west always expected to do it. Almost like a plan to take over the west, isn’t it.
its great but the downside must be addressed
blmplo will use this to show how the je ws dominate blks and further add to the israelis are genocidal
If states cannot maintain their compact with their peoples, then there will be secessions of various kinds. Ex-British Somaliland appears to have established a working government and maintains order within its territory. I see Israel has extended formal recognition; Taiwan has not, but the two countries have offices in each other’s capitals.
Yet I note that Somaliland is roughly 99% Muslim. I’m curious to know what Somaliland’s ‘ulema are thinking about Israeli recognition.