Africa | First One Through

Israel has long stood with few allies at the United Nations. As the Iranian Proxies War against Israel has continued and brought new anti-Israel resolutions, it is a strange and welcome relief to see a new name appear alongside Israel and the United States in votes to support Israel: the east African country of Malawi.

United Nations Votes

UN Watch has a database which tracks how countries vote on matters related to Israel. Whether at the General Assembly, Human Rights Council or World Health Organization, Malawi has started to break from the Global South and is abstaining from condemning Israel and sometimes providing outright support for the Jewish State.

Examples include a UNGA vote on the International Court of Justice condemning Israel in September 2024. With an overall vote tally of Yes (124), No (14), Abstain (43), and Absent (12), Malawi was one of the No votes. In a December 2024 vote condemning Israel for not signing onto the Middle East nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Malawi abstained, even as 153 countries voted yes. When the UN Human Rights Council voted in April 2024 to condemn Israeli “settlements,” Malawi was one of only three countries to vote against the measure.

It is therefore worth understanding the country more and appreciating why it is siding up to Israel while much of Africa has not.

Demographics

Malawi is a country of roughly 20 million people and very poor, with a GDP per capita of only $1,590 in 2020. The total fertility rate is relatively high compared to the world at 3.4, but half the country’s figure in 1982 (7.7). It has one of the highest population densities of Africa and among the youngest average populations. Sadly, the country has one of the highest incidents of AIDS and child orphans.

While agriculture represents 30 percent of Malawi’s GDP, and 90% of the population is employed in primary production agriculture, the country is vulnerable to extreme weather including cyclones and flooding. Only 15% of the country had electricity and the same percentage had access to a computer.

Around 77% of the country is Christian and slightly less than 14% are Muslim. This is a more Christian country than neighboring Mozambique and Tanzania, while less Christian than Zambia.

Agricultural Workers

Malawi’s strong understanding of agriculture and low GDP per capita make the country a good source of workers to replace Gazans who are no longer allowed into Israel because of the war it initiated. According to Statistica, there were 165,000 Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) working in Israel before October 7, 2023 in a variety of fields, of which 35,000 were illegal. Today, there are only 15,000 Arab workers from Gaza and E49AL/West Bank. That’s a lot of workers to replace.

In April 2024, Malawi opened an embassy in Tel Aviv. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo said at that time that there was an effort to bring as many as 3,0000 agricultural workers to Israel.

When asked to discuss the war, Tembo said, “They [Israel] helped us get where we are now. We can’t, therefore, cut our ties with them today because there is a war in Gaza. Much as we regret the loss of lives, we reaffirm our firm solidarity to Israel.” The “help” provided by Israel included in areas of agriculture over the years.

*Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Malawi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo at the opening of an embassy in Tel Aviv on April 18, 2024 (photo: Yossi Zeliger/TPS )*

The first batch of 3,000 agricultural workers is a good start but nowhere near enough, as the number of Arab workers has declined by 150,000, with tens of thousands attending to farms.

Today, the vast majority of foreign farm laborers in Israel are from Thailand, estimated to have been around 30,000 before October 7, 2023, reaching around 38,000 now. Israel has become a top four destination for Thai workers. Expectations are that a similar dynamic may play out for Malawi’s agricultural workers.

However, it is not that linear. According to recent reports, many Malawians over the past year used agricultural visas to enter Israel and then abandon the fields for employment in Israeli cities. For their part, Malawians protested that they were not paid according to the contracted rates. Israel is, therefore, also turning to India and Sri Lanka to supplement the depleted number of foreign workers.

Yet Malawi is still considered a strong source for workers, especially in farms. Earlier this week, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel visited Malawi to ink a new bilateral labor agreement with Tembo. The agreement will facilitate Malawians placement and training in Israel with good quality and stable jobs, and likely cut the illegal migration of Malawians into South Africa looking for work.

In the 1970s, Israel’s agriculture accounted for over 10% of its economy but that has shrunk to around 2% as the country developed a thriving position in technology. Still, the country has a strong food business and has invested significantly in food technology, so is focused on protecting its farm production. Malawi workers may be a growing part of that labor force, with complementary votes for Israel at the United Nations.

The Global South Is Coming For The UN Security Council (March 2025)

The United States has always been a country of immigrants since its founding days. During the Industrial Revolution of the 1880’s to 1910 the wave of immigrants from Europe made the country have a large white majority. The push back against immigrants during World War I and the Great Depression mostly sealed U.S. borders for decades which only began to change meaningfully in the 1960’s.

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 removed the quota system that capped immigration from each country, greatly benefiting non-European countries. While U.S. immigration in the 1960’s was split 75%, 9% and 5% for Europe, Latin America and Asia, respectively, by the 1980’s the continents of origin were 23%, 44% and 26%, respectively.

Africa has not been a major source of immigrants over the past 100 years. In 2018, just over 2 million of the country’s 44.7 million immigrants came from sub-Saharan Africa. While small, this figure has grown rapidly, from 691,000 in 2000 and 130,000 in 1980. The largest number of immigrants comes from Nigeria, the African country with the largest population, followed by Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.

Many of these immigrants live in the large states, including New York, California, Texas, Florida, Ohio and New Jersey. Others have settled into smaller states including Georgia, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia.

But nowhere has the African immigrant population been felt as dramatically as in Minnesota.

Exhibit 1: Black Population, by Place of Birth

State	Foreign-born	US-born	Multiple
Minnesota	27.4%	4.6%	5.96
Washington	6.5%	3.4%	1.91
Connecticut	16.5%	10.0%	1.65
Ohio	16.7%	12.2%	1.37
New York	19.4%	14.6%	1.33
Pennsylvania	14.3%	10.9%	1.31
Florida	15.9%	16.0%	0.99
Indiana	8.9%	9.6%	0.93
Maryland	26.8%	30.5%	0.88
New Jersey	11.7%	14.1%	0.83
Wisconsin	5.0%	6.4%	0.78
United States	9.5%	13.2%	0.72
Tennessee	10.6%	17.1%	0.62
Virginia	11.6%	20.2%	0.57
Georgia	18.6%	33.0%	0.56
North Carolina	9.2%	22.5%	0.41
Michigan	5.8%	14.4%	0.40
Alabama	8.1%	27.4%	0.30
Illinois	4.2%	15.7%	0.27
California	1.7%	7.3%	0.23
South Carolina	5.7%	27.7%	0.21
Louisiana	6.7%	33.5%	0.20
Mississippi	7.3%	38.8%	0.19

As seen on Exhibit 1, overall in the United States, Black people account for 13.2% of the U.S.-born population and 9.5% of the foreign-born population. In southern states like South Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi, Blacks make up a significant percentage of the population, almost all being born in the United States. In several northern states like Ohio, Washington, Connecticut and New York, the Black population born in Africa is significant, surpassing the overall mix of U.S.-born Black people in the state.

In Minnesota, the immigrant population is driven by Blacks from Africa, accounting for six times the percentage of U.S.-born blacks in the state. While Africans account for under ten per cent of the overall US immigrant population, they account for 27.4% of the immigrant population in Minnesota, nearly three times the rate.

Exhibit 2: Foreign-born Population in Minnesota by Continent

Exhibit 2 shows how Africa’s share of the Minnesota immigrant community has grown from 4.3% in 1990 to 27.2% in 2018. Since 2000, it is the only region which has grown its share, reversing the trend even for immigrants from Latin America. It is the only state in the country with this phenomenon.

African-born immigrants have moved to Minnesota at a scale not seen anywhere else in the United States. The percentage far surpasses US-born Blacks and eclipses Latin American and European immigrants. In 2018, they helped elect the first immigrant from Africa to Congress, Ilhan Omar from Somalia. Will their numbers impact future elections as well?