A cabinet source said on Sunday, November 15 that an Israeli delegation would be visiting Khartoum, capital of Sudan, in the coming days; this following last month’s normalization announcement between the two countries under urgent pre-election pressure by the Trump administration.
The small delegation, with a mandate to focus on “security cooperation” between Israel and Sudan, was headed by an operative of the Israel Security Agency (ISA, “Shin Bet”) identified as “Maoz,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s adviser on the Arab world and his point man on Sudan. The Shin Bet operative flew to Khartoum the day before October’s normalization announcement to work out the final details.
Sudanese asylum-seekers demonstrate in Tel Aviv in solidarity with the popular ongoing struggle for democracy in their country, June 2019. The sign in Hebrew held aloft reads “They’re killing the people in Sudan and the world remains silent.” (Photo: ASSAF)
The US is expected to provide Sudan with major economic aid and debt relief, and access to loans and other aid now that, to enable the deal, the State Department has removed it from the American list of states that sponsor terror. Two days after the normalization deal was announced, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel would be sending $5 million worth of wheat to Sudan to help that country with its economic crisis.
Israel and Sudan are also apparently discussing the fate of some 6,000 Sudanese asylum seekers currently living in Israel, with far-right government reportedly having drawn up a proposal to deport these refugees back to their African homeland from which they fled. Asylum seekers from Sudan make up about 20 percent of the 33,000 African migrants currently in Israel.
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