Gold Meir in Kenya, 1960 Israelis were not surprised by last month’s terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, killing 67 people. They had been on alert against such dangers since two attacks on Israeli targets in Mombasa in 2002. Since the Arab the downfall of Libya’s Qaddafi, East Africa especially has been awash in new terrorist recruits and arms. The silver lining is that Israeli cooperation with African governments has also increased. During the past two years, more than 40 senior African dignitaries—including the presidents of Rwanda, Uganda, Togo, South Sudan, as well as the prime minister of Kenya—have visited Israel, with the Nigerian president expected soon. Yet Israeli-African relations are not a new story—not is the story merely a reflex of current shared struggles against terrorism. There are pictures of then Foreign Minister Golda Meir—with sturdy pocketbook in hand—visiting Ghana in 1958 and Kenya in 1960. The Jewish state’s relationship with Black Africa has been a roller coaster ride. In the 1890s, Edward Wilmot Blyden, pioneering founder of the African freedom movement, later led by led by W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, and others, lauded Theodor Herz for launching “that marvelous movement called Zionism.” Though without any knowledge of Blyden, Zionism’s “new Moses” reciprocated in his 1902 novel, Altneuland, having Professor Steineck remark: “Now, that I have lived to see the return of the Jews, I wish I could help to prepare the return of the Negroes.” Following Great Britain’s granting Ghana independence in 1957, Israel quickly emphasized establishing good diplomatic and trade relations with the over 30 sub-Saharan African states that emerged during the next two decades. By the early 1970s, 10 African states had embassies in Jerusalem, and Israel maintained relations with 32. After the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, Israel vociferously criticized South Africa’s apartheid regime, resulting in a temporary rupture of relations that had been established in 1948. . An Israeli embassy was not opened in Pretoria until 1974. But then, the wake of 1973’s Arab oil embargo, 21 Black African suspending diplomatic relations with Israel, The month before the UN General Assembly passed the “Zionism equals racism” resolution in November, 1975, Uganda’s Ida Amin spoke before the General Assembly calling for “the extinction of Israel.” In 1976, during Operation Entebbe Kenyan government official Bruce McKenzie persuaded Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta to permit Israeli Mossad agents to gather information prior to the hostage rescue operation in Uganda, and to allow Israeli Air Force aircraft to land and refuel at a Nairobi airport after the rescue. Later,after Amin had McKenzi assassinated, Mossad Chief Director Meir Amit had a forest planted in Israel in his name. With Operation Moses in 1984-1985 and Operation Solomon in 1991, Israel airlifted, respectively, 6,500 and over 14,000 Beta Israel into the Jewish state. Ethiopian Jews in Israel probably received less newsprint than the stormy experience of the small sect of Black Hebrew Israelites who settled in the Negev at Dimona. They have been made into a metaphor by critics of Israel who portray the Jewish state as a racist society. Yet the truth is they are emblematic of how virtually anybody with the imagination and persistence can, in fact, become an Israeli. A Chicago sect, the Hebrew Israelites crystallized in the 1960s around the conviction that they are the authentic “blood descendants of the ancient Hebrews.” Initially, their predominant messianic hope centered not on Israel but a return to Africa timed with Passover. In 1967 under the leadership of Ben Ammi (“Son of My People”) Carter, 160 members established a tent colony near Liberia’s capitol of Monrovia. Perhaps impressed by Israel foreign aid projects in Liberia, and influenced by another sect leader, Nasi Shaliach Ben Yehuda (Louise Bryant), who had always preferred Israel, which she considered “northeastern Africa. Migrations followed in 1969 and 1970. In Dimona, the Black Israelites offended their neighbors, among other things, by the practice of polygamy. Claiming to be Torah True Hebrews—not Jews—they demanded status under the Law of Return. When it was denied, Carter refused to allow his followers to convert to Judaism and instead escalated his rhetorical attacks by claiming that “Israel will be a country run totally by black men.” As his sect splintered into factions, the Israeli government increased the pressure by denying some members housing and other benefits in 1971 and then expelling 25 for working illegally in 1977. Finally, the log jam over the Black Israelites was broken. African American legislators from Illinois brokered an agreement, negotiated in 1990, and finalized in 1992, permitting them to hold jobs and receive social benefits. Ben Ammi Carter moderated his anti Jewish white rhetoric. Permanent status, including the right to serve in the Army, was granted in 2002. That year, a Black Israelite—born in Israel—was killed by Palestinian terrorists at his Bar Mitzvah. Of course, Israel’s relationship with South Africa under Apartheid has long remained an irritant. The Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions (BDS) Movement was launched in 2005 declaring they were “inspired by the struggles of South Africans against Apartheid.” South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), a friend of Hamas, helps keep the irritant alive. Yet the future look brighter—partly because of the longtime affinity of African with Jewish freedom struggles, partly because the terrorist enemies of African governments and peoples are Israel’s enemies also.