Recognition Isn’t Charity

Recognition is not a moral reward. It is power, and in today’s fractured world, power often matters more than permission. When international institutions stall, paralyzed by vetoes, inertia, and performative consensus, recognition becomes a strategic lever: a way to redistribute legitimacy where multilateral mechanisms fail. Few recent decisions illustrate this better than Israel’s December 2025 recognition of Somaliland.

A Muslim-majority society without Islamist rule. Israel’s Somaliland move mirrors Taiwan’s struggle for recognition and shakes global power dynamics.

A Muslim-majority society without Islamist rule. Israel’s Somaliland move mirrors Taiwan’s struggle for recognition and shakes global power dynamics.

At first glance, the move seems surprising. Somaliland is a self-declared republic, unrecognized for over three decades, in a region better known for fragmentation than stability. But seen alongside Israel’s long-standing engagement with Taiwan, the logic becomes clear. In a fractured global order, functionality increasingly trumps formality.

Israel, Taiwan, and Somaliland may differ in history, culture, and scale but they share a structural truth: de facto sovereignty constrained by de jure exclusion. Each has built institutions, exercised territorial control, and proven strategic relevance outside formal endorsement. Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is not a radical departure; it is a continuation of a doctrine forged in the crucible of contested legitimacy. The insight is simple: states that wait for permission often forfeit agency. States that build capacity and alliances despite exclusion reshape the system.

Africa: The Crisis Before the Mediterranean

Why Sudanese refugees are fleeing not only war, but Egypt itself.

Israel’s recognition also extends the spirit of the Abraham Accords. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar framed it as part of a broader normalization arc, not limited to Arab monarchies, but open to stable,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)