ABSTRACT
A strategic culture approach to understanding Ethiopia’s foreign policy towards Israel and Middle Eastern Arab countries allows for the integration of historical, cultural, and strategic and realpolitik foreign policy determinants. Ethiopia, in the “Horn of Africa”, occupies a geo-politically and strategically important position vis-a-vis the Arab states and Israel. Long-standing strategic alignments persistently informed by history and culture characterise Ethiopia’s foreign policy. Ethiopia and Israel have regarded each other as important partners historically, politically and geo-strategically. Despite Emperor Haile Selassie’s claim to be “the Lion of Judah”, something that signified his kinship with the Israelites, it is a paradox that Ethiopia’s first foreign policy decision on Israel was to abstain on the UN resolution in 1947 establishing the state of Israel. The strategic alliance with the USA and Israel allowed the emperor to thwart the 1960 coup d’état against his government by a section of the Ethiopian military.
