Israel’s cooperation with East African States in Security and Development Domains: Case Of Kenya

In February 2016, the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu declared Israel’s come-back to Africa and Africa’s comeback to Israel. He stressed that the Jewish State is ready to help African countries both in security and development domains. Netanyahu sees these domains, fighting the forces of terror and seizing the opportunities of tomorrow, as interrelated. Due to the recent Israel’s traditional partners’ grievances of Netanyahu’s unwillingness to make compromises on the Palestinian policy, Israeli government is looking toward extending the sphere of influence, adding new partners from Africa, Latin America and Asia. This paper examines the Israeli-Kenyan cooperation as an example of a successful partnership between the Middle Eastern country and the East Africa - its priority region. Special attention is paid to Israel’s military and non-military assistance to Kenya. For strengthening its national security, the Kenyan govern-ment is seeking to gain an access to Israeli military know-how and a vast Israeli counterterrorism expe-rience. Extending military cooperation with Israel, Kenya is also open to Israeli development innovations, especially in the field of agriculture and medicine. The Jewish state is trying to get some economic and trade preferences from Kenya, a diplomatic loyalty in the United Nations, and, finally, a support in de-terring Iran’s African ambitions. The aim of the study is an analysis of the contemporary Israeli-Kenyan cooperation in security and development domains. It was examined official documents of Israeli Foreign Ministry, Knesset and the Kenyan Parliament. The author concludes that to maintain a positive course, Israel and Kenya should con-tinue to deepen their cooperation demonstrating mutual respect for each other's national interests.