UAE and Bahrain fail to join GCC condemnation of Somaliland opening embassy in Jerusalem

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have failed to join fellow Gulf states in condemning Somaliland’s plan to open a new embassy in Jerusalem.

Somaliland’s ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Hagi, said on Tuesday that the move came after Israel became the first and only state to recognise the breakaway Somali region in 2025.

“Israel will also establish its embassy in Hargeisa, reflecting growing friendship, mutual respect, and strategic cooperation between our two peoples,” he added, referring to the Somaliland capital.

East Jerusalem is considered occupied under international law. Israel wrested control of the city from Jordan in the 1967 war, but the vast majority of countries have refused to recognise it as its capital.

Foreign ministers from four of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – joined Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Djibouti, Somalia, Palestine, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, Mauritania, Algeria, Bangladesh and Morocco in condemning the “illegal and unacceptable step taken by the so-called Somaliland region in opening its purported embassy in occupied Jerusalem”.

The UAE and Bahrain, GCC members that have both normalised relations with Israel, did not join the condemnation reported by Arab News.

Meanwhile, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi also denounced the embassy move as a violation of international and United Nations laws.

Since Israel’s recognition, Somaliland officials have discussed building an Israeli military base in the territory, despite previous denials of such a plan from Hargeisa’s foreign ministry.

A foothold in Somaliland would put Israel a short distance away from Yemen’s Houthis, who have targeted shipping in the Red Sea in recent years in what they said was retaliation for the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

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Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but is still internationally recognised as part of Somalia by the UN, African Union and most governments worldwide.

The UAE’s relationship with Somaliland dates back to 2017, when its government accepted an Emirati bid to establish a military base there, hoping that this relationship would strengthen its case for independence.

In January, Saudi Arabia accused the UAE of spiriting Yemeni separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who was facing treason charges, out of Yemen to Somaliland before he travelled on to Abu Dhabi.

Somalia reacted angrily to the allegations, severing the UAE’s commercial and military contracts in Somaliland, although it retains little control over the territory. 

Unlike Saudi Arabia, which primarily engages with Mogadishu, Abu Dhabi’s relationship with Somalia is shaped largely through its ties with Somaliland and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.

Middle East Eye contacted the UAE and Bahrain for clarification on their attitude to the embassy move, but had received no response at the time of publication.