Michael Freeman, Israel’s ambassador to Nigeria, has clarified that Israel’s proposed plan to support Christian communities in Nigeria will focus on intelligence-sharing between the two countries
The clarification follows comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with evangelical leaders in Florida last week. Netanyahu cited Nigeria as one of the countries where Christians are “persecuted” and described Israel as uniquely capable of offering protection.
His remarks sparked reactions from Nigerians, who were still processing the shock of U.S. airstrikes in the country on Christmas Day.
In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, Freeman emphasized that Israel’s engagement would fully respect Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“This is about working with Nigeria. This is not about working against Nigeria. It’s working with them as a partner, as an ally, and seeing what we can do,” the ambassador said.
He added, “He (Netanyahu) emphasised the issue of intelligence sharing and working in that area, and certainly I think that’s the area that we will be looking at to work with the Nigerian government; to see where we can work together to stop the attacks that are taking place against Christians, but also against Muslims and against all Nigerians. Our interest is to work with Nigeria to stop all the violence in this country.”
Freeman noted that Netanyahu’s comments were not exclusive to Nigeria, but also referred to other countries where Christians face persecution.
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