Somaliland celebrates recognizing Israel, but Trump says he won’t follow suit for now
Residents of Somaliland took to the streets on Friday to celebrate after Israel became the first country to recognize the breakaway region, dampening US President Donald Trump’s expectations that he could follow Jerusalem’s lead.
While Trump once said he would look into the matter, he later became dismissive.
“Everything is under investigation,” he said in a telephone interview with the New York Post. “We’ll study it. I study a lot of things and I always make good decisions and they turn out to be right.”
“Does anyone know what Somaliland really is?” said Trump
According to the Post, Trump was unimpressed with Somaliland’s willingness to join the Abraham Accords, even as the war in Gaza has derailed efforts to expand the landmark normalization deals he brokered between Israel and several Muslim nations.
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According to the Post, Trump was also unimpressed by Somaliland’s offer to host a U.S. military port. “Big deal,” he said when asked about the offer.
Israel on Friday became the first country to recognize Somaliland, a former British protectorate that unilaterally declared independence from former Italian-ruled Somalia in 1991.
In downtown Hargeisa, something once unimaginable, an Israeli flag is emblazoned on the city’s main museum.
Lots of people celebrating downstairs. pic.twitter.com/1AIQVgod7K
— Faisal (@FaisalAHAli) December 26, 2025
Footage from Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, showed crowds waving the national flag and chanting in the streets, while images of the Israeli and Somaliland flags were projected on the outside of the National Museum of Somaliland.
Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, who has made international recognition a top priority since taking office last year, said in a post on
Somaliland has been touted in the past as a possible destination for Gazans displaced from Gaza as part of a plan put forward by Trump in February to take over the enclave. However, the U.S. Gaza peace plan released in September said Palestinians would be encouraged to remain in the Gaza Strip, and it was not immediately clear whether Israel’s move was related to the Gaza Strip.
Despite celebrations in Somaliland, Israel’s move sparked widespread outrage.
Somalia rejects any recognition of Somaliland. An agreement last year between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland to lease a stretch of coast for a port and military base angered Somalia. On Friday, Somalia said Israel’s recognition of Somaliland was a “deliberate attack” on Somali sovereignty that would “undermine peace in the region.”
The Palestinian Authority also rejected Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and called it quits
Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.
“This initiative by Israel, which is consistent with its expansionist policies… constitutes blatant interference in Somalia’s internal affairs,” the State Department said in a statement.
Composite image. Left – Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a photo released by the Israeli government press office on December 26, 2025; Right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signs Israel’s declaration recognizing the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state on December 26, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Egypt said its top diplomat spoke with counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti who jointly condemned the move and stressed “full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.”
The African Union said Israel’s move risked “setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.” Somaliland “remains an integral part” of Somalia, an AU member, the pan-African organization’s head Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said.
As a self-proclaimed republic, Somaliland enjoys a strategic location on the Gulf of Aden and has its own money, passports and army. It also has a history of peaceful and democratic transitions of power, while Somalia is plagued by decades of civil war.
But Somaliland has been diplomatically isolated since declaring independence. The lack of international recognition makes access to foreign loans, aid and investment difficult, and the area remains severely impoverished.
Israeli regional security interests could be behind the recognition of Somaliland. In a paper last month, the Israel Institute for National Security Studies said: “Israel needs allies in the Red Sea region for many strategic reasons, including the possibility of a future campaign against the Houthis,” the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels who clashed with Israel during the war in Gaza.
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