Times of Israel publishes 18 near-identical blogs calling for Somaliland recognition
The Times of Israel has published 18 separate articles this month on its blog page calling on 15 different countries and three regional organisations to recognise the sovereignty of Somaliland.
The first blog, purportedly written by a retired Canadian doctor, appeared on 7 January with the headline, “Recognizing Somaliland Would Be in Canada’s Interest”, while the most recent one was published today with the title, “Recognizing Somaliland Would Be in France’s Interest”.
Between these dates, an author - referred to as Mohamed Osman - published blogs with the same headline format in which he called on India, the UK, Ethiopia, the European Union, Kenya, Somalia, the Arab League, the African Union, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Canada (for the second time), Argentina, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Sweden and Germany to “formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state within its 1960 borders”.
The blogs were published on 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (African Union and Turkey), 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26 and 27 January, with Osman taking a break from addressing the interests of various countries on 25 January to write a piece headlined, “Israel and Somaliland Cooperation in Healthcare”.
The articles are all virtually identical, with even the separate identities of the countries sometimes put to one side. Making his case for India, Osman argues that “formal recognition by Canada would reaffirm the nation’s commitment to democratic values and human rights”.
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They contain the same potted history of Somaliland, a former British colony and breakaway region of Somalia that has its own government, and the same passage hailing the UAE’s DP World for its “milestone” investment in the Somaliland port of Berbera, which MEE recently revealed is co-owned by the British government through its foreign investment arm.
Osman also writes that Somaliland sits along the Bab al-Mandab strait, “a critical chokepoint where roughly 10 percent of global trade and a sizable portion of Europe’s energy supplies pass”. This strategic location has not been lost on the UAE, which has a naval base at Berbera, and Israel, which wants to establish a military presence there.
Meetings in Davos
In the author biography on the Times of Israel blog page, Osman is described as a “retired physician and public health specialist from Somaliland”, who is “recognized for supporting Somaliland’s recognition”.
But Middle East Eye could find no other trace of him online, which is unusual for someone with this background. While the name is a common one, fake profiles are often deployed in political messaging campaigns.
Somaliland has previously been accused of inventing a British politician called David Green, who had a habit of frequently making the case for Somaliland's independence.
On its website, the Times of Israel notes that “the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties”, and that the newspaper does not assume “any responsibility for them”.
But to be published on the blog page, prospective authors appear to have to go through a vetting process.
“Want to add your voice to the conversation? Tell us about it by completing the application,” the Times of Israel’s website states. “We’ll get back to you if we’re interested. If your blog is approved, we will require a good quality, non copyrighted headshot photo of you, which we’ll request via email.”
"Blog accounts are opened following a basic application process, and posts are checked to ensure they adhere to community standards. The option to report a problematic post is available on every page," an editor at the Times of Israel told Middle East Eye.
The sovereignty of Somaliland has become of greater matter of public interest in Israel since it became the first country in the world to formally recognise Somaliland, on 26 December.
Since then, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has officially visited the breakaway country in the Horn of Africa, and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi went to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, where he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Eric Trump, the son of US President Donald Trump.
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