ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Afro-Israeli relations in the years preceding the 1973 rupture of relations and examines the various national, continental, and international factors that caused the break. Israel's stunning success in the 1967 war damaged her image as an underdog in Africa. The hope that the "Israeli miracle" of development would be repeated in Africa through Israeli technical assistance programs had proven exaggerated. The debates at the United Nations clearly underlined the hardening of attitudes against Israel by a growing number of African states. There was a sharp increase in the number of Islamic ministerial and other conferences, and these conferences concerned themselves mainly with the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is probable that some African countries took a hard calculating look at the consequences of an Arab economic retaliation against them if they refused to break with Israel, and the financial rewards of complete identification with the Arabs.
