{"id":447611,"date":"2026-05-18T12:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/447611\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T12:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:07:45","slug":"somalilands-first-ambassador-to-israel-welcomed-by-isaac-herzog-in-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/447611\/","title":{"rendered":"Somaliland\u2019s first ambassador to Israel welcomed by Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Isaac Herzog<\/a> welcomed Somaliland\u2019s first-ever ambassador to Israel, Dr. Mohamed Haji, at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem<\/a> on Monday, calling the moment the beginning of an important new partnership between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pleased to welcome this morning the first-ever ambassador of Somaliland to Israel, Dr. Mohamed Haji, who presented me with his credentials,\u201d Herzog said.<\/p>\n

Herzog noted that the ceremony also included a symbolic first at the President\u2019s Residence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmbassador Haji was also excited by our orchestra, which played the national anthem of Somaliland for the first time at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new and important partnership between our countries will lead to a future of cooperation in a variety of fields \u2013 for the benefit of both our peoples and the entire region,\u201d Herzog added.<\/p>\n

The ceremony marked the latest step in the warming of ties between Israel and Somaliland. Last month, Israel\u2019s cabinet confirmed Michael Lotem as Israel\u2019s first ambassador to Somaliland<\/a>, following the establishment of official relations between the sides in December 2025. Lotem is currently serving as a non-resident ambassador, reflecting the early phase of diplomatic engagement.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar visited Somaliland in January in what was described as a historic diplomatic visit, and Somaliland announced in February that Haji would serve as its first ambassador to Israel.<\/p>\n

The relationship also carries wider strategic significance. Somaliland\u2019s location near the Red Sea and across from Yemen has drawn Israeli interest amid the continued threat posed by the Iran-backed Houthis.<\/p>\n

Somaliland officials have said cooperation with Israel could include security ties, intelligence gathering, and technology partnerships, while Netanyahu previously said Israel would seek immediate cooperation in agriculture, health, technology, and the economy.<\/p>\n

Shir Perets contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Isaac Herzog welcomed Somaliland\u2019s first-ever ambassador to Israel, Dr. Mohamed Haji, at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[37916,3566,42,2894,3794,43,23046,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-447611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ambassador","tag-ceremony","tag-headlines","tag-isaac-herzog","tag-jerusalem","tag-news","tag-somaliland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}