Recognising Somaliland locks Israel into a spreading diplomatic fight that delays Gaza de-escalation and buys Netanyahu time - or does it? Right, so Israel has just locked itself into a diplomatic fight it can’t quietly reverse, and Benjamin Netanyahu is the one who signed it in. The recognition of Somaliland isn’t a clever foreign-policy play or some niche Africa story that can be parked and forgotten. It’s a self-inflicted rupture with the African Union, the Arab world, and regional institutions that exist precisely to stop this sort of thing happening. Somalia is demanding reversal, continental bodies are closing ranks, and even Israel’s usual political cover has gone missing. That alone should tell you this isn’t normal. And here’s the pattern that matters: whenever Netanyahu is boxed in at home, instability abroad stops looking like a risk a ...