Uganda ‘on the side of Israel’ amid Iran war, defense chief says
“Israel has the right to exist and attacks against it must stop,” General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, head of the Uganda Defense Forces, said in a series of messages on X/Twitter expressing his support.
The head of the Uganda Defense Forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, expressed his support for Israel amid the ongoing war with Iran in a series of messages on X/Twitter on Thursday.
“We want the war in the Middle East to end now. The world has had enough,” he wrote, adding that any talk of Israel’s destruction or defeat would drag Uganda into the war. “On the side of Israel!” he concluded.
In another deleted post, he claimed that the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), the country’s armed forces, would begin participating in the war “on the side of Israel” if it did not end soon.
“Israel has the right to exist and attacks against it must stop,” he said.
Later on Thursday, Kainerugaba said in another message that he had offered the Uganda Defense Forces assistance to the United States and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) walks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (R) after arriving to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Operation Entebbe at Entebbe airport in Uganda, July 4, 2016. (credit: REUTERS/Presidential Press Unit/Handout via REUTERS)
“We could have taken Tehran in 72 hours without any bombing,” he said, “but of course they never listen to a black man. Why bomb those who support you?”
Uganda-Israel Ties Warm Up
Last month, Kainerugaba announced in an article on X that Uganda would soon build a statue in honor of the lieutenant colonel. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu at Entebbe International Airport.
He said the statue would be placed on the exact spot where Netanyahu was killed after the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight that led to the kidnapping of about 100 Jews and Israelis.
Kainerugaba said the monument is a symbol of ties between the two countries, although no official government announcement has been made regarding the creation of the statue.
Prime Minister Netanyahu attended a commemorative ceremony at Entebbe Airport in 2016, marking the fortieth anniversary of Operation Jonathan.
“Forty years ago, they landed in the middle of the night in a country led by a brutal dictator who gave sanctuary to terrorists. Today, we landed in broad daylight in a friendly country led by a president who fights terrorists,” he said during his public speech.
