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When Israel recognized Somaliland in late December 2025, it caused an international kerfuffle. The Arab League called it “illegal” and a threat to regional stability. The African Union “reject[ed] any initiative or action aimed at recognizing Somaliland as an independent entity.” Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described it as a “unilateral secessionist move that violates international law.” The Qataris, Egyptians, Turks, Algerians, Yemenis, Omanis, Sudanese, Iraqis, and others echoed these sentiments. The European Union also chimed in, declaring that it “reaffirms the importance of respecting the unity, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”

Territorial integrity is of course important. The crackup of other countries in the region—say Syria or Iraq—would be catastrophic to the security and stability of the Middle East. But staking opposition on Somalia’s territorial integrity was transparently disingenuous. Somaliland voluntarily agreed to be a part of Somalia after its independence in 1960, decided to secede in 1991 after a decade of war within the country, and has been basically independent ever since. The Saudis lived with two Yemens between 1967 and 1990; the Qataris and Turks supported Idlib, a breakaway province of Syria, until President Bashar al-Assad fell; and Turkey is the only country in the world that recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which Ankara sliced out of the northern third of the Republic of Cyprus—now a member of the EU. The opposition to Israel’s move is not rooted in principle, but rather in geopolitics, which underlines the importance of Somaliland, especially now.

When Israel recognized Somaliland in late December 2025, it caused an international kerfuffle. The Arab League called it “illegal” and a threat to regional stability. The African Union “reject[ed] any initiative or action aimed at recognizing Somaliland as an independent entity.” Saudi Arabia’s Ministry........

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