Scholarly discourse on Israel and foreign aid is heavily focused on the assistance relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America. Little researched and under-discussed by scholars and the wider public alike is the extremely successful agricultural, development and financial aid given to sub-Saharan Africa by Israel during the period 1954 and 1974. Essential, and for many nations crucial, to the economic growth of these newly independent states, the foreign aid policy pursued by Israeli leaders had Zionist roots which emerged from the writings of Theodor Herzl and the Zionist beliefs of Israel's then Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion and Foreign Minister, Golda Meir. They and others in the Israeli leadership at the time believed it was Israel's duty to help these newly emerging nations rise out of poverty and develop into economically successful independent states, just as Israel had. Israeli initiatives led to unprecedented co-operation between Israel and Africa, resulting in an Israeli aid program that took many different forms, including the building of infrastructure, joint economic ventures, technical assistance, and the training of African students in agricultural techniques both in their villages but also in co-operative settlements in Israel. This transfer of people and knowledge remained rooted in Zionism and led not only to an improvement in the development policies of African states but also an improvement in the political standing and public image of Israel in the world that sustained up until the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war. This dissertation examines the reasons for Israeli aid to Africa: Zionism, but also the diplomatic and political benefits Israel hoped to achieve and the reasons why Africa accepted Israeli aid. Through the use of Israeli, American, and British archives, as well as those of the United Nations and World Bank, the assistance programs of the Israeli government, of Israeli businesses and private citizens, including the transfer of knowledge, are discussed. Finally, this dissertation connects the activities of Israelis to international organisations and transnational epistemic communities in order to produce a comprehensive study of Israeli aid to Africa between 1954 and 1974 that argues for the success of the program, both for Israel’s international legitimacy and standing in the diplomatic community and also as an assistance program that provided economic and social development to sub-Saharan Africa.    «

Scholarly discourse on Israel and foreign aid is heavily focused on the assistance relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America. Little researched and under-discussed by scholars and the wider public alike is the extremely successful agricultural, development and financial aid given to sub-Saharan Africa by Israel during the period 1954 and 1974. Essential, and for many nations crucial, to the economic growth of these newly independent states, the foreign aid policy...    »