An Israeli statement noted that on Thursday, four years after the nations’ connections were restored after a decades-long break, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno officially opened his majority-Muslim nation’s first embassy in Israel.
The opening of the embassy in Ramat Gan, close to Tel Aviv, was hailed as “a historic occasion” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.
With a Chadian group, Netanyahu claimed to have discussed “the potential of building an embassy in Jerusalem” in 2020.
That would have been a victory for the right-winger who, since then-president Donald Trump moved the US embassy in 2018, has been pressuring international governments to establish their embassies in the city.
“We are strengthening our friendship and our common interests in pursuing peace, security and prosperity,” Netanyahu said Thursday.
Israel granted recognition to Chad after it separated from France in 1960, and by 1962, it had established an embassy there.
In response to pressure from Muslim African nations, relations between Israel and Chad were severed in 1972.
Following the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli conflicts, several African nations severed ties with Israel.
However, in order to strengthen connections on the continent, Israel has recently highlighted areas of collaboration ranging from security to technology and agriculture.
Netanyahu and Deby declared the reopening of diplomatic ties during a trip to Chad in 2019.
After his arrival on Tuesday, Deby met the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, David Barnea.
The Mossad “has played a central role in formulating the agreement and strengthening relations between the two countries,” a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said.
One of the world’s poorest countries, Chad is not an Arab League member state but belongs to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Netanyahu has made broadening Israelis ties across the Arab and Muslim world a foreign policy