Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi arrived in Israel on Sunday in the first visit of its kind, months after Israel became the first country to formally recognize the self-declared republic as an independent state.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed Abdullahi in Jerusalem and described the visit as a milestone in the new relationship between the two sides.
“This historic visit embodies the enormous potential of the new partnership between our two countries,” Herzog said in a post on X, where he shared photos from the meeting.
Abdullahi is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar during the visit, Israeli media reported. He is also expected to inaugurate Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a move likely to further anger Somalia and several regional governments.
Israel recognized Somaliland in late December 2025, triggering sharp condemnation from Somalia, which considers the territory an integral part of its sovereign territory. Mogadishu has repeatedly rejected any direct foreign engagement with Hargeisa, calling it a violation of Somalia’s unity and territorial integrity.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has since operated with its own government, security forces and political institutions. But until Israel’s recognition, it had failed to gain formal recognition as a sovereign state from any country.
The opening of an embassy in Jerusalem gives the relationship a highly symbolic edge, placing Somaliland alongside a small number of foreign entities willing to establish formal representation in the city, whose status remains one of the most contested issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.