Israel's Exit from Africa, 1973: The Road to Diplomatic Isolation

In 1973 25 Black African states severed diplomatic relations with Israel. This article examines the motives that brought the African countries to shun Israel and the manner in which the Israelis attempted to cope with their growing ‘pariahtude’. The African states sought to achieve unity on their continent, avoid their own isolation, and advance the international norms that they espoused. The Black African countries claimed that no hostility attended their decisions to break ties with Israel. Yet, as this article demonstrates, their imposition of a quarantine on Israel was an act of indirect violence. By early 1974 officials of the Israeli Foreign Ministry attempted a reformulation of policy toward Black Africa but could ameliorate in no effective manner the isolation imposed upon their country.