Ghana and the State of Israel enjoy good diplomatic relations. Ghana was the first African country to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel, in 1958. Before then Israel had, with the permission of the then colonial power, Britain, already established a Consulate in Accra (in November 1956) prior to Ghana’s attainment of independence in 1957. The two countries maintained resident Ambassadors and for close to 15 years (1958-1973) Ghana and Israel enjoyed very warm and cordial relations. Some of the major areas of cooperation between the two countries during the period included shipping; construction; agriculture; labour issues; manpower training; science and medicine; security matters and culture.
Ghana, however, broke off diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973 in compliance with an OAU (now African Union) resolution that requested all member states to sever diplomatic relations with Israel following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war in which Israel seized the Sinai Peninsula which is an integral part of Egypt.
Despite the break in diplomatic relations with Israel the latter was permitted to maintain an interest section at the Swiss Embassy in Accra until 1990 when the office was closed down for financial reasons and also as a result of Israel’s frustration over Ghana’s continued refusal to restore relations with her.
The signing of Israel-PLO Peace Accords in Washington D.C on 13th September 1993 paved the way for Ghana to review her relations and to re-establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
On 9th August 1994, Ghana and Israel signed a joint communiqué and announced simultaneously in Tel Aviv and Accra the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with effect from that date. It was also agreed during the visit of an Israeli delegation to Ghana in October-November 1994 that the two countries would re-open diplomatic Missions in each other’s capital.
Ghana accordingly re-opened its Mission in Tel Aviv in 1996 and Israel reopened its Embassy in Accra in September 2011.
Ghana's bilateral cooperation with Israel has improved tremendously since the reopening of the Mission in 1996. The construction of an ultra-modern new University of Ghana Hospital modeled along the lines of Sheba Medical Center and an undertaken by EDC, an Israeli Company and the training of medical professionals at the Sheba Medical Center, are a few examples of the level of cooperation ongoing between the two countries. The rise of terrorism globally has also brought into sharp focus the need to strengthen security cooperation with the rest of the world. This was one of the key issues discussed by Ghana's Foreign Minister, Hon. Hanna Tetteh and Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu when the former paid an official visit to Israel from 13-16th March 2016.