In surprise turnaround, Sudan open to discuss normalizing ties with Israel

In a significant shift in foreign policy, Sudan is considering establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish State.

By: Atara Beck, World Israel News

Sudan is open to discuss normalizing ties with Israel, Sudanese media reported.

Sudan’s minister for foreign affairs Ibrahim Ghandour spoke at a public symposium in Khartoum last Thursday where he said the Sudanese government would not mind studying any suggestions about normalizing ties with the Jewish state.

Answering a question at the Thursday symposium about an American pre-condition to lift sanctions on Khartoum by normalising ties with Israel, Mr. Ghandour said: ”We don’t mind to study any such proposal”.

The Sudan News Agency reported that the committee for external relations of the National Dialogue Conference discussed the issue at a meeting on Monday.

Israel did not immediately react to the Sudanese minister’s statement.

If the report proves accurate, this would consist a significant turnaround in Sudanese foreign policy, which has until recently been aligned with Iran.

Israel has reportedly bombed Sudanese targets which served as weapons depots and a relay point between Iran and the Palestinian terror groups.

Khartoum has recently broken off diplomatic ties with Tehran, siding with Saudi Arabia against the Islamic Republic.

The Sunni Muslim African state does not recognize the Jewish State and the two countries have never shared diplomatic ties.

Israel maintains close diplomatic ties with South Sudan, the non-Muslim state that broke away from Sudan and declared independence in 2011.

Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab countries with formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

However, Foreign Ministry Director-Deneral Dore Gold stated in a speech on Tuesday that Israel today maintains some level of ties with “almost every Arab state.”