Why Trump should follow Israel’s lead on Somaliland – opinion

The president, known for disrupting failed paradigms, should see the immense value in this move.

By Amine Ayoub, Middle East Forum

While Western media outlets focus on the diplomatic choreography in Washington, a seismic shift has occurred in the Horn of Africa that exposes a critical fault line in the global battle against Islamism.

Last week, Israel became the first U.N. member state to officially recognize the Republic of Somaliland, a democratic, pro-Western nation that has functioned independently of the failed state of Somalia for more than three decades.

The images emerging from Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, are revolutionary. In a region largely dominated by hostility toward the West, thousands of African Muslims flooded the streets waving the Israeli flag alongside their own.

They celebrated the Jewish state not as an occupier, but as a partner in sovereignty.

For U.S. President Donald Trump, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lead is not just a strategic move to secure the Red Sea; it is the ultimate domestic checkmate against the “Somalia First” narrative championed by figures like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

To understand why recognizing Somaliland matters to the American taxpayer, one must dismantle the fiction of “One Somalia.”

This narrative insists that the democratic, British-influenced Somaliland must remain shackled to the chaotic, Italian-influenced Somalia forever.

This fiction survives in Washington not because it serves American interests, but because it serves a specific ideological agenda pushed by Islamist lobbyists.

Omar, representing Minnesota’s 5th District, has become the face of this agenda. In a controversial speech earlier this year, she spoke to Somali constituents, allegedly pledging to use her influence to ensure that the U.S. government supports the interests of the Somali government in Mogadishu.

While debates raged over translations, her legislative record aligns perfectly with the “Somalia First” doctrine: propping up a central government in Mogadishu that is hostile to Western values while isolating the pro-American democracy next door.

The cost of this ideological blindness is hitting Americans at home. The “Somalia First” mindset, which prioritizes clan and foreign allegiance over the rule of law, migrates.

The “Feeding Our Future” scandal in Minnesota, described by prosecutors as the largest pandemic fraud scheme in American history, exposed staggering corruption within the very community Omar claims to champion.

Dozens of individuals—many with ties to the transnational networks binding Minnesota to Mogadishu—have been charged with stealing more than $250 million in taxpayer money meant to feed hungry children.

This industrial-scale fraud is symptomatic of an Islamist-influenced political culture that views the American state not as a home to be loyal to, but as a resource to be plundered.

Trump was initially dismissive of Somaliland’s overtures, asking aides: “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?”

But the president, known for disrupting failed paradigms, should see the immense value in this move. Strategically, the Red Sea is on fire. The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have turned the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into a chokehold.

The U.S. military relies on a base in Djibouti, a country increasingly compromised by Chinese debt and influence. Somaliland offers a strategic alternative: 460 miles of coastline along the Gulf of Aden and the deep-water port of Berbera.

Israel has already recognized this, viewing Somaliland as a critical node in its “New Periphery” doctrine to counter Iranian encirclement. An American presence in Berbera would outflank the Houthis and check Chinese expansion.

For too long, American policy has been paralyzed by the fear that recognizing reality would cause instability. But the instability is already here.

Somalia is a haven for Al-Shabaab; Somaliland is a haven for stability. The Soviet Union dissolved; Yugoslavia dissolved. There is no moral reason to force Somaliland to remain shackled to a corpse.

Israel has demonstrated the courage to see the world as it is. By recognizing Somaliland, Netanyahu has exposed the hypocrisy of the “anti-colonial” left and their Islamist allies, who would force an African democracy to remain a subject of a failed state.

Trump has built his brand on “America First.” There is no better way to implement that than by rejecting the “Somalia First” demands.

By tweeting his recognition of Somaliland, he would secure a strategic ally, safeguard the Red Sea and deliver a resounding defeat to the ideology that seeks to subvert American interests from within. It is time to align American policy with American values.