Before Recognition: How Somaliland’s President Made a Secret Trip to Israel
Newly disclosed meetings in Jerusalem reveal that Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi traveled secretly to Israel months before recognition, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and senior Israeli security officials as both sides quietly worked toward a historic diplomatic breakthrough.
Somaliland President travelled secretly to Israel in October 2025 for meetings with senior Israeli officials ahead of recognition.
JERUSALEM (Somali Report) — When Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi arrived in Israel on Sunday for a historic state visit, the trip was presented as a milestone in a rapidly expanding relationship between Hargeisa and Tel Aviv.
But during the visit, Israeli and Somaliland officials revealed a previously undisclosed chapter in that story: President Abdillahi had already traveled to Israel months earlier on a secret mission that helped pave the way for Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.
Speaking alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Jerusalem on Monday, both leaders disclosed that they had met discreetly at Israel’s Foreign Ministry in October 2025, more than two months before Israel became the first United Nations member state to formally recognize Somaliland on December 26.
“Mr. President, this is our second meeting in this room,” Sa’ar said. “We met here discreetly last October, but the media didn't know at the time.”
President Abdillahi confirmed the revelation moments later.
“I am honoured to be in this room, as the minister said, for the second time,” he told the gathering. “Though the first time, sometime in October last year, the press was not there.”
The disclosure provides the clearest indication yet that the diplomatic breakthrough announced in December was the culmination of months of quiet negotiations conducted far from public view.
According to Abdillahi, the relationship had been developing behind the scenes long before recognition became official.
“We have been working behind the curtains for more than a year,” he said, describing the current visit as the public culmination of a process that had been underway long before either side acknowledged it.
Israeli media reports suggest the October trip was far more significant than previously known.
According to Channel 12 and YNet, Abdillahi’s secret visit included meetings not only with Sa’ar but also with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Mossad Director David Barnea. The reports indicate that senior Israeli officials, including Sa’ar, the Mossad and former National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, played central roles in negotiations that eventually led to recognition.
YNet reported that Hanegbi chaired final discussions involving Netanyahu and that the Israeli prime minister approved the recognition initiative in October, around the same period as Abdillahi’s undisclosed visit.
Yet significant questions remain unanswered about the trip itself.
Neither Somaliland nor Israeli officials have disclosed who accompanied Abdillahi during the secret visit or who participated in the meetings on behalf of Somaliland. The secrecy surrounding the mission is consistent with a pattern that has increasingly characterized President Abdullahi’s foreign travel. Observers have become accustomed to the elusive nature of the Somaliland leader’s overseas engagements, many of which only become public after they have concluded. Abdillahi often travels discreetly and is known to use his Finnish passport, which provides greater visa-free access and flexibility for international travel. Whether he was accompanied by senior ministers, security officials or advisers during the October meetings remains unknown.
The Israeli reports suggest the secret diplomacy extended well beyond a single visit.
According to YNet, Israel and Somaliland jointly drafted the declaration of recognition but delayed its publication while Somaliland prepared for potential regional repercussions. Somaliland reportedly requested additional time to prepare for possible hostile reactions, including threats that could emerge from Yemen across the Gulf of Aden. Only after those preparations were completed did both sides move forward with the announcement that transformed Somaliland’s international standing.
The newly revealed details help explain the speed with which relations have expanded since recognition.
President Abdillahi’s current trip marks the first official visit by a Somaliland head of state to Israel and comes nearly six months after recognition. During the visit, he is being received with full state honours and is expected to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
A central moment of the visit is the opening of Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem, formalizing diplomatic relations between the two sides and making Somaliland one of a small number of governments with diplomatic missions in the city.
Sa’ar praised what he called Abdillahi’s “historic” decision to establish the embassy.
“I will always be proud of the privilege I had to write, with you and your people, the first pages in the story of the Israel-Somaliland relationship,” he said.
The Israeli foreign minister also acknowledged the opposition the partnership has generated.
“There are indeed challenges in building the relationship between Israel and Somaliland,” Sa’ar said. “Unfortunately, there are many trying to undermine it. They will not be successful.”
The relationship has attracted criticism from Somalia, the African Union, IGAD and numerous Muslim-majority countries, all of which have condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and reaffirmed support for Somalia’s territorial integrity.
For Somaliland, however, the visit represents the most significant diplomatic achievement since recognition.
Addressing Israeli officials, Abdillahi described the trip as unprecedented in Somaliland’s history.
“I came here as Head of Government of Somaliland, as President of Somaliland, for the first state visit in Israel, the first of its kind in any country in the world,” he said.
The two governments have outlined plans to expand cooperation across trade, investment, agriculture, energy, technology, infrastructure and security, while also encouraging greater private-sector engagement between the two countries.
Yet the most striking revelation of the visit may not be the ceremonies, embassy opening or official meetings taking place this week.
Instead, it is the confirmation that months before Israel formally recognized Somaliland, President Abdillahi quietly slipped into Israel for a series of undisclosed meetings with the country’s top political, intelligence and security officials. What appeared to the world in December as a sudden diplomatic breakthrough now looks increasingly like the result of a carefully managed and highly secretive campaign that unfolded largely out of public sight.
The red carpet rolled out in Jerusalem this week may have marked Somaliland’s public arrival on the Israeli diplomatic stage. But the first chapter of that story, it now appears, was written in secret months earlier.
About the Author
Omar Adam is a Senior Reporter for Somali Report based in Addis Ababa. He reports on Ethiopian politics, security, business, and economic affairs, with a special focus on the Somali Region and the experiences, governance, and development of Somali communities across Ethiopia.