Who would think Israel would be the center of their celebration?

Photos: Eli Cobin

As soon as Israel declared its recognition of Somaliland, we were on the first flight out to this country that had been politically isolated for the last three decades. We thought we were going in order to witness a political transformation, but we had no idea that the spotlight would be on us — that with our yarmulkes and tzitzis, we’d be the focus of unbridled joy and celebration

T

he wild, spontaneous reception was totally unexpected.

We’d been in Somaliland less than 24 hours when we were guided by a police escort to a rally that took our breath away. Had we known what awaited us, we might have asked to return to the hotel, take a shower, and maybe I would have even changed out of my T-shirt to something a bit more dignified — but the whirlwind of spontaneous authenticity made everything happen in a racing blur of excitement and anticipation.

And so just three days after Israel officially recognized this country, our four-man group — the very first Israelis to set foot here — was led into the “stadium” of the capital city of Hargeisa.

Okay, so it’s not exactly a stadium by our standards — it’s really just a wide, open lot, almost like a giant sandbox. Here, in this third-world country on the northeastern corner of the Horn of Africa and most importantly, abutting the Gulf of Aden, a stadium requires only a huge flat area, more or less free of grass or shrubs, surrounded by thick stone walls. And that’s considered just fine by local standards.

From there, sensory overload struck us unexpectedly. Thousands of people — men, women, children of all ages — waved Israeli and Somaliland flags wildly, overcome with excitement at the Israelis who had finally come into their isolated space in a gesture of friendship, after three decades of not being recognized by any country that counts. And we weren’t even official diplomats, just a few Jews on a tour of the latest country to be recognized by Israel. The field was literally rocking, with flags, streamers, horns, music, and drums accompanying the chaotic noise of cheers and whoops, as we were royally escorted to the stage.

There, members of parliament, local officials, the city governor, the vice president — everyone who was anyone — awaited us. The presidential logo and portraits of the two most popular leaders, Benjamin Netanyahu and Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (commonly known as “Irro”), were displayed side by side, each one with an enormous smile. Clearly, both had reason to celebrate.