Félix Tshisekedi in Jerusalem and the dangerous marriage of faith, foreign policy and political survival

September has been a long month when it comes to Israel-DRC relations. On the first day of the month, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, smiled broadly beside Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Twenty-four days later, Tshisekedi’s delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York, led by Prime Minister Judith Suminwa and Foreign Minister Thérèse Wagner, was listed along with 76 other countries that walked out or was absent when Netanyahu addressed the assembly – seemingly in protest over Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. Suminwa and Wagner will, no doubt, be grilled by Tshisekedi about the reason for their absence during Netanyahu’s speech. Tshisekedi has been cosying up to Israel and Netanyahu for over six years now. […]