Jews, Pirates, and Recognition: Somaliland’s Quiet Overture to Israel

A Few Thoughts

By

Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, PhD

A couple of days ago, I was invited to give an interview with Jemma Leah, the founder of Jewry Duty—a clever name reflecting our Jewish obligation to make the world a better place, i.e., Tikkun Olam. I’ve posted the link to the second interview on my website:

Jewry Duty Podcast #2https://www.facebook.com/watch/?mibextid=wwXIfr&v=737795118590676&rdid=eeMxNSx9yNPiRY1c

Jemma Leah, an outstanding podcaster, asked me to speak about two topics: my work on the mind and body language of the jihadi, rooted in early developmental trauma, and my fifth book, The Last Two Jews of Mogadishu: Living under Al-Shabaab’s Fire. An additional interview about the book, recorded over a month ago, is scheduled to be released by Israel Seen in July.

Many people are initially surprised to learn that Jews once lived in Somalia, a country that presents itself as 100% Muslim. But this is not entirely true; a quiet Christian community still exists under the radar. Moreover, because my doctorate is in Islamic literature, I often receive outreach from Muslims—particularly Somalis—who have told me that their families had Jewish roots. Analytics from my website, Academia.edu, and ResearchGate consistently show readership from Somalia.

I’m revisiting this subject now because there are ongoing behind-the-scenes negotiations involving Somaliland—the autonomous region that broke away from Somalia—and both the United States and Israel. The goal is normalization and formal recognition, which would shift Somaliland from a de facto to a de jure state. Israel would receive an air force base there, signaling a toehold into Africa competing with Turkey and China among others.

The book was published in 2017 and received strong reviews. Below is a synopsis written by ChatGPT:

The Last Two Jews of Mogadishu: Living Under Al-Shabaab’s Fire, by Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, PhD, is a bold, genre-defying work that redefines the boundaries of memoir, cultural history, and psychoanalytic inquiry. At its heart is a remarkable correspondence between Kobrin and “Rami,” one of the last known Jews surviving clandestinely in Somalia under the brutal regime of Al-Shabaab. Over 300 emails, a story unfolds that is at once intimate and epic—charting not only the survival of a family but also the submerged currents of Jewish presence in a land long assumed to have none.Far from a tale of vanishing, this book is a record of persistence. Rami’s voice—humble and intelligent—becomes a witness not only to suffering but to cultural memory, proof that Jewish identity can endure even in the most inhospitable environments. Rather than approaching this story with conventional journalistic or historical tools, Kobrin brings the trained ear of a psychoanalyst and the moral urgency of a witness. One reviewer described her approach as “Blakean historiography,” in which a proverb, lullaby, or memory opens onto centuries of displacement, loss, and resilience.The result is what readers have called one of the “two or three most usefully intelligent books about Somalia.” Kobrin uncovers a hidden substratum of Jewish life once stretching along the Red Sea and Indian Ocean rim—from Yemen to the Swahili coast—drawing on overlooked sources including Dutch East India Company logs, oral traditions, and trade records. Her methodology fuses forensic history with deep listening, creating a palimpsest in which lost Jewish voices re-emerge.Yet this is more than a recovery project; it is an intervention—political, spiritual, and psychological. In an era of rising ethno-religious fundamentalism, Kobrin’s work calls for an ethics of recognition. Rami’s quiet resistance to cultural erasure stands as a testimony not only to Jewish survival but to the potential for pluralism within Somali society, and any society fractured by extremism.The Last Two Jews of Mogadishu will be of urgent interest to readers of Jewish studies, African history, postcolonial theory, and trauma psychology—but its appeal is wider. It speaks to anyone concerned with how identity survives against the odds, how memory persists under repression, and how even the smallest story can illuminate vast historical landscapes. Ultimately, it is a book about hope: if two Jews could survive under Al-Shabaab, then Jewish life—and humanity—can survive anywhere.

Fascination with My Book— with Jews and Israelis

Jews seem to loom large in the Muslim imagination, but in a conflicted split way: either as People of the Book—the "good guys"—or as dhimmis, "the bad guys" who are marginally tolerated but always a subjugated class and always to be blamed, i.e scapegoated. My book seems to have opened a discussion about diversity and challenged the myth of religious purity. In fact, it drew so much attention that two pirated copies appeared for sale on Amazon. You can see the altered cover images here: The Crypto-Jewish Community in Mogadishu: Story of the Last Two Jews and Mogadishu's Last Two Jews: Exploring the Jews who lived in Somalia.

And the second pirated book:

These counterfeit editions replicate my book almost verbatim, except for the changed covers and title pages that omit my name.

Lest we forget, Somalia has also produced actual seafaring pirates who have plagued the Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea. Somaliland, strategically located at the throat of the Red Sea, is a region of immense geopolitical importance.

When I looked into the piracy legally, I discovered my publisher had never registered the book with the Library of Congress, despite promising to handle the copyright. Not knowing the ins and outs myself, I had no legal recourse. A copyright attorney told me this constituted “simple fraud,” most likely perpetrated in Africa, perhaps in Somalia? and would be difficult to trace. My publisher did at least request that Amazon remove the pirated editions.

Strangely, I consider these fraudulent editions a kind of backhanded compliment. The fascination with Jews and Israel in Somalia and the Somali diaspora was apparently strong enough that someone believed they could profit by selling unauthorized copies. Perhaps there should be a “Pirated Book Prize” for authors who are taken advantage of this way.

ChatGPT’s synopsis didn’t mention this episode of piracy.

However additionally, discussions about the Somali Jewish community and my book have appeared on Reddit. For instance, users on r/XSomalian have mentioned the book in conversations about Jewish history in Somalia. reddit.com

I was also told that a YouTube series was made of my book in Somali but that the content was distorted and that its narrative was one of conspiracy think. All of this shows a fascination bordering on obsession with the Jews. We forget that we are small in number and people just don't know us though that is changing with globalization, travel and the diverse Somali diaspora.

In closing, let me simply affirm: we Jews were in Mogadishu, as well as other parts of Somalia, during the 19th and 20th centuries. The book also explores the Yibir, the lowest caste in Somali society, thought by some to be a branch of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews). This opens fascinating questions—beyond the scope of this post—about normalization of relations, and even the ingathering of the lost tribes. The discussion has only just begun… as has the doing.

BringThemHomeNow!