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The first groups of MASHAV trainees from Kenya arrived in Israel in the early 1960's

MASHAV diversified its efforts regarding Kenya and over the years, with the resumption of diplomatic ties in 1988, in addition to the many Kenyans traveling to Israel for training, Israeli experts arrived in Kenya to hold “on the spot” courses in various fields for large groups of trainees at a time.  This cooperation diversified into large-scale projects, which were a welcome addition to the efforts being made by private Israeli companies to advance Kenya’s infrastructure.  The pinnacle and more well known of these projects was the “Kibwezi Irrigation Project”.  A large scale “school of irrigation”, created in the Kibwezi district, aimed, in collaboration with USAID, to bring the successes made in Israel in the field of irrigation to Kenya.  The result, following ten years of the intense training of hundreds of Kenyan farmers, was the complete transformation of the region surrounding the Project, into a self-sustaining, flourishing area.  The Kenyan graduates of the Kibwezi Project, learned to plant and operate using new and innovative irrigation techniques, which transformed them from farmers whose crops were barely sufficient to sustain their own families, into farmers whose efforts yielded not only enough for their households, but enough to earn a decent living.

In addition to the success of MASHAV in enhancing the strong bonds between Israel and Kenya, historical events have allowed the two countries to prove their friendship to one another.  Such was the case when a group of terrorists hijacked an Air France flight to Entebbe, Uganda in 1976.  The daring rescue undertaken by Israel’s special forces could never have taken place so far from home had a friend not come forth and allowed the airplanes carrying these brave soldiers and the freed hostages to land and refuel in its territory – this friend was Kenya. 

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Israel's elite rescue unit struggles to find survivors under the remains of the bombed US Embassy (August 1998)

In 1998, Kenya too was struck by terrorists, the target being the American Embassy in Nairobi.  As the devastating effects of this horrific attack became clear, it was the Israeli Defense Force rescue teams who were the first international unit to arrive in Kenya.  This experienced team, supported by heavy equipment supplied by private Israeli companies working in Kenya, worked day and night in an attempt to find survivors trapped under the rubble.  Israelis and Kenyans working together to save lives marked the crossing of an important threshold in the relationship between the two countries.

Following the 1998 attack, MASHAV, at the behest of the Government of Kenya, stepped up its training efforts in the field of medicine to cover issues like “disaster management” and “emergency medicine”.  These efforts have seen the life-saving skills of hundreds of Kenyan doctors and nurses improved over the years using new and innovative methods.

In November 2002, terrorists struck again - the target this time, the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Kikambala.  Fifteen people were killed, three of them Israelis, when a car bomb exploded outside the lobby of the hotel as a local dance troop was welcoming vacationers from Israel.  At approximately the same time terrorists working with those who blew up the hotel, fired two hand-held rockets at an Israeli airliner, which had just lifted off from Moi International Airport in Mombassa with 264 passengers on board.  Luckily, the missiles narrowly missed the plane and those on-board were spared.

The attack on the Paradise Hotel was the first time that Kenyan and Israeli blood was spilt together.  Kenya and Israel once again proved that the bonds between them were stronger than any terrorist plot and as a result of the attack, strengthened even more their cooperative efforts in the field of security.  Israel and Kenya came “full circle” as the re-opening of the Paradise Hotel was announced on the two-year anniversary of the attack on 28 November 2004.