Prominent Somali cleric warns Somaliland against engagement with Israel

HARGEISA, Somalia — One of Somalia’s most prominent religious scholars, Sheikh Mustafa Haji Ismail Harun, has strongly criticised recent steps taken by Somaliland toward engagement with Israel, warning that any move linked to seeking recognition would be morally and politically misguided.

Speaking publicly at a mosque in Hargeisa, Sheikh Mustafa said Israel’s actions against Muslims had drawn condemnation not only from Muslim communities but also from some Christian-majority countries. He described Israel as a colonial project, arguing that its policies were based on occupation and the breaking of agreements.

“Israel is not opposed only because of Judaism,” Sheikh Mustafa said. “It is a settler entity whose people came from other countries to dominate others. "They have never entered a treaty that they did not eventually violate.”

He urged Somaliland’s public and political leaders to distance themselves from any engagement with Israel, warning them to consider how they would react if a similar situation were imposed on their own territory.

“If people were settled in Hargeisa, Berbera, or Burao and then recognised as a separate entity, you would see it as an injustice,” he said. “That is how Palestinians view what is being done to them today.”

Addressing arguments by some politicians that cite historical agreements between the Prophet Muhammad and Jewish communities, Sheikh Mustafa said such comparisons were misleading. He noted that the Jewish groups who had treaties with the Prophet lived under the authority of the Islamic state and were not occupying forces.

“The Jews who had agreements with the Prophet lived under his authority, but they later broke those agreements,” he said. “They are not comparable to today’s occupying forces. The Prophet should not be used as a justification.”

Sheikh Mustafa also accused Israel of fueling instability and bloodshed, pointing in particular to the war in Gaza. He said 70,000 Palestinians — including children, women, and the elderly — had been killed, and more than two million people subjected to siege and deprivation.

His remarks come amid heightened debate in Somali political and religious circles over Somaliland’s foreign policy direction and wider regional threat linked to the Israel-Somaliland ties.

GAROWE ONLINE