Transcript [00:00] Hey everybody. So last month, Israel was [00:03] the be Israel became the first country, [00:06] the first sovereign state ever to [00:09] recognize the independent nation of [00:12] Somali land. Now Somali land is a [00:15] pro-western democracy. Uh it it's been [00:18] around for it for about 30 plus years. [00:21] It seceded from Somalia after a civil [00:25] war and it became, like I said, [00:27] pro-western, democratic. They've had [00:29] numerous peaceful transfers of power [00:31] over the years. They have democratic [00:32] institutions and Israel became the first [00:35] country to recognize Somali land. Somali [00:38] land had they had massive uh [00:40] celebrations in the streets and [00:42] immediately and this is what I want to [00:43] talk about in this video. Immediately [00:46] the Muslim countries in the world, the [00:48] big Muslim countries in the world like [00:50] Saudi Arabia, Qatar, it's not big but [00:52] very powerful, Turkey, all condemned [00:56] Israel for recognizing Somali land and [00:58] they talked about it like this massive [01:00] diplomatic crisis. And you might ask [01:01] yourself, why do they care so much if [01:04] Israel goes ahead and recognizes this [01:06] rinky dink little country, this little [01:08] Muslim country down near the Horn of [01:09] Africa? And it actually has very [01:12] important strategic implications. I made [01:14] a video about this for Israel 365 on [01:16] that channel there and you can go take a [01:18] look at that video there. But what I [01:20] wanted to share with you is a big reason [01:23] why I think these Muslim nations are so [01:26] upset about Israel's recognition of [01:29] Somali land that became clear to me [01:31] watching an interview from just the [01:33] other day of a senior advisor to the [01:38] leadership of Somaliand who is visiting [01:41] in Israel this week and he was [01:43] interviewed on Israeli cable TV. Have a [01:46] look at this interview. So from my [01:48] understanding, you're one of the [01:49] president's closest adviserss. Can you [01:52] tell us a little bit about how you see [01:55] this relationship between Israel and [01:57] Somaliand? [02:03] >> Um I I worked with several presidents [02:06] before and I held different roles. Uh [02:10] the relationship between Israel and [02:12] Somali land especially from the Somali [02:14] land side, it's very crucial. it has [02:17] been waited for 35 years. The people of [02:20] Somali land see this as the best thing [02:23] that could have happened in the last 35 [02:25] years. Uh we also see Israel as a strong [02:29] powerful friend to have in the region [02:31] and I'm pretty sure you would have seen [02:34] the excitement uh from the people of [02:36] Somali land when his excellency the [02:39] prime minister of Israel Netanyahu [02:42] announced the recognition of Somali land [02:44] in conversation with live conversation [02:47] with my president [02:49] Abdah [02:50] >> and from my understanding there's a lot [02:53] of Israelis that are now seeing the [02:55] econom eomic potential in Somali land [02:57] and a lot of businessmen in Somali land [03:00] who see um the potential in Israel. Can [03:03] you tell us a little bit about that? [03:06] >> You're absolutely right. I not only uh [03:08] come from the from the government side [03:11] but I also come from the business side. [03:13] Uh so my focus is more on the business [03:15] side and one of the reasons why I'm here [03:18] is to build that relationship on the [03:19] business side. Um in terms of the [03:22] business uh people in Somali land uh [03:25] there are a lot of natural resources [03:26] such such as mining energy [03:29] telecommunication [03:31] uh anything that's technical uh [03:33] fisheries life in which we believe [03:37] there's an interest from Somali land [03:39] side to partner with uh business people [03:42] from Israel and from Israel side to [03:45] partner with people in Somali land. [03:48] There are also government to government [03:51] uh important deals that can be done in [03:53] oil and gas as well which is very [03:55] important and we think would uh make [03:58] both countries in in a win-win [04:00] situation. [04:01] >> Yeah. I'm I'm curious to ask you in your [04:03] eyes what needs to happen in order for [04:06] more Muslim uh countries to create these [04:09] connections and peace um with Israel. [04:13] I think uh the the conversation and the [04:16] deal between uh or the recognition [04:19] between Somalia and Israel would be a [04:21] great example. Here comes a country that [04:24] has not been internationally recognized [04:25] for 35 years. Although I must confirm [04:28] that in 1960, [04:31] Israel was the first country to [04:32] recognize Somali land after the British [04:34] left. So it's not the first time that [04:37] actually Israel came to recognize Somali [04:40] land. um this is the second time. So uh [04:43] it's a great example that uh in terms of [04:46] especially specifically for the Muslim [04:48] countries and Sunni countries that they [04:51] can see the rel the two relationship the [04:54] interest between the two countries does [04:56] not have to be all about religion. Uh [04:58] Israelis majority of them are Jewish [05:02] Somali landeries almost exclusively are [05:05] Muslim Sunnis but we still have that we [05:07] can have that love for each other. we [05:10] can have we can see what the what each [05:12] other's interests are. So when people [05:15] see a win-win situation, when people see [05:17] what Isra can do in terms of Somali [05:20] land, in terms of the defense, in terms [05:22] of the security, in terms of the [05:24] economic development, I am pretty sure [05:26] that a lot of other Muslim countries [05:28] will see that as an opportunity. [05:30] >> Amazing. Ibrahim Yu, senior adviser to [05:34] the president of Somaliand. Thank you so [05:36] much for this interview and enjoy your [05:38] visit to Israel. Enjoy your stay. [05:42] >> Thank you very much. Uh the the the my [05:45] visit to Israel has been a great visit. [05:48] We have seen a lot of love from the [05:50] Israeli people and I would like to thank [05:53] the Israeli people for welcoming us and [05:55] I would like to say thank you to uh uh [05:58] the prime minister, the cabinet and also [06:00] the Knesset as well. Thank you. So [06:03] Somali land is located at the Horn of [06:05] Africa. It's right across from the It's [06:08] right across the Babel Mandib Strait [06:10] which is the entry point into the Red [06:12] Sea. It's right across from Yemen where [06:15] the Houthis are. And the Houthis were [06:16] shelling international shipping from [06:19] October 7th until well until the [06:21] ceasefire uh just a few months ago. And [06:25] of course that's why the United States [06:26] was attacking the Houthis. They were [06:28] disrupting international shipping [06:29] because about a third of all [06:30] international shipping comes from the [06:32] far east. It comes from the Indian Ocean [06:35] across up the Babal Mandab strait into [06:37] the Red Sea up the Suez Canal and then [06:39] on to Europe. Okay. So they were so the [06:41] Houthis were disrupting the Somali land [06:43] sits across from there. Not a powerful [06:44] country but like I said a pro-western [06:47] free democratic country. Now Israel does [06:51] have peace deals with some other Arab [06:53] countries. It has a peace deal with with [06:55] Egypt ever since 1979. It has a peace [06:57] deal with Jordan. It has, of course, the [06:59] Abraham Accords um countries. But those [07:03] countries, those peace deals are [07:06] different than the recognition of Somali [07:08] land. And I'll explain why. With Egypt, [07:10] although there's a peace deal, it's much [07:12] more of an extended ceasefire. Egypt [07:14] still votes against Israel in the UN. [07:15] They're still a hostile nation. They [07:17] helped arm Hamas. The population hates [07:19] Israel. there's not a lot of economic [07:22] engagement going across even though we [07:24] do have this kind of peace in the sense [07:27] that there's no open hostility. Jordan [07:30] is similar although it's even more [07:32] peaceful but there again the Jordanian [07:34] population is very anti-Israel and [07:36] there's not a lot of business [07:38] cooperation going back and forth because [07:40] they're so hostile with the Abraham [07:43] Accords countries. Those are wealthy [07:45] nations. They don't need Israel to build [07:47] them up economically. the United Arab [07:49] Emirates, Bahrain, they don't need the [07:51] Israelis to build them up. So, it's very [07:54] much a a kind of businessto business, [07:57] government-togovernment relationship. Uh [07:59] they share some enemies in the region, [08:01] but it it's not a very integrated piece. [08:03] Somali land is different. Okay, listen [08:05] carefully. The Somali land people were [08:08] celebrating in the streets, and you saw [08:10] some of the footage in that video. They [08:12] were celebrating in the streets when [08:13] Israel recognized them. there is this [08:15] this sense of of redemption that there's [08:18] a nation this powerful nation Israel [08:20] that recognized their independence and [08:22] now what we're hearing about is there's [08:24] going to be all this economic [08:25] investment. So besides the strategic [08:28] defense importance of having a foothold [08:30] down there at the Horn of Africa and [08:32] Israel is getting involved with the [08:34] defense of Somali land. [08:36] Um besides that, listen to what he was [08:38] saying. He's here to explore and [08:41] develop. He's here in Israel right now [08:42] to explore and develop business [08:44] relationships. What does this mean about [08:47] the economy of Somali land and of [08:49] Israel? Well, Israel has tremendous [08:52] economic power. It also has tremendous [08:54] innovation and technological power. [08:56] What? And if Somali land now becomes a [08:59] partner nation with its workforce [09:02] suddenly being being utilized by Israeli [09:06] industry and there's all kinds of [09:07] technological sharing and all kinds of [09:10] investment coming from Israel into [09:12] Somali land, you could see Somali land [09:15] become a more prosperous country. The [09:18] last thing in the world that these [09:20] despotic dictatorships, which is what [09:23] all these Arab countries are, even the [09:25] ones that are pro-western, like Saudi [09:27] Arabia and Turkey who are supposedly [09:29] pro-western, all these Arab countries [09:30] are dictatorships. They are there's no [09:33] human rights in these places and there's [09:35] certainly no economic prosperity for the [09:38] citizens. There's a lot of economic [09:39] prosperity for the rich rulers, the [09:41] kings and and shakes who sit at the top. [09:44] The last thing any of these guys want in [09:48] the Middle East is a thriving, [09:50] prosperous, free market economy that is [09:53] growing, that is becomes a prosperous uh [09:56] nation right next door to Somalia, which [09:59] is a which is a jihadist Islamic hell [10:03] hole where, you know, you where there's [10:06] poverty everywhere and all around [10:07] Somalia, you have these impoverished [10:09] African nations. If Somali land becomes [10:12] this island of economic prosperity and [10:15] security in that region, that could [10:19] spread to other populations. That could [10:21] undermine the anti-democratic [10:24] Islamic uh ethos that governs all of [10:28] these other countries in the region. [10:30] It's a major threat to all of them. So [10:33] this dinky little country in the horn of [10:35] Africa by being recognized by Israel and [10:37] now all this investment that is going to [10:40] happen there is a major threat to the [10:44] undemocratic [10:46] Arab world. So this is a fascinating [10:48] story and again if you haven't seen my [10:50] video on Somali land on this on the [10:52] importance of the Somali land [10:53] recognition on the Israel 365 YouTube [10:56] channel go there and find it. It's from [10:57] about a month ago. You'll find it pretty [10:58] easily if you search most popular [11:01] videos. It's probably in the top 10 [11:02] there. I think it, you know, it had a [11:04] lot of views.
