Netanyahu on historic African tour to cement alliance with four states

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu heads to East Africa this week to cement the burgeoning diplomatic-military-intelligence- economic alliance Israel established six months ago with the East African nations of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. It was initiated during the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to Israel in February. During the first trip by an Israeli premier to sub-Saharan Africa in three decades, Netanyahu will grant the formal seal to the security partnerships for countering the spreading Islamist terror threat, boosting economic assistance and trade. On March 20, DEBKAfile first disclosed the birth of this Israeli-East African bloc.

In Uganda, a ceremony is planned to mark the 40th anniversary of the IDF’s July 1976 operation that freed Israeli hostages from a hijacked plane at Entebbe. Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan, the leader of the commando unit that led the raid, was shot to death as he was helping the Israeli hostages who had been held inside the airport’s old terminal back onto the plane.