Israel’s Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Roey Gilad, has questioned what he describes as a clear difference in the Ghanaian government’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Speaking at a recent event attended by the Member of Parliament for Assin South, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, Ambassador Gilad said Ghana appeared to be taking different approaches to the two international crises.
“On the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Ghana is very much non-aligned. We don’t hear much criticism of Russia for their aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
“But as for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the current government is very loud,” he added.
The ambassador then asked Rev. Ntim Fordjour, a member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), whether he understood the apparent difference in Ghana’s responses to the two conflicts.
In his reply, Rev. Ntim Fordjour said he could not speak authoritatively on Ghana’s foreign policy. He stressed that he was neither a government spokesperson nor a representative of the government on foreign affairs.
“I cannot pretend to be an authority on the foreign policy of Ghana. Neither am I the government spokesperson or representative on government foreign policy,” he said.
Ambassador Gilad’s comments come against the backdrop of President John Dramani Mahama’s strong public statements on the situation in Gaza. The President has repeatedly criticised Israel’s military operations, describing the suffering of Palestinians in stark terms and, on previous occasions, referring to the conflict as genocide — a characterisation the Israeli envoy has publicly rejected.
Gilad has previously argued that Israel is fighting Hamas and other armed groups rather than the Palestinian people, and that the term “genocide” does not accurately reflect Israel’s objectives or intentions.
The ambassador’s latest remarks have already drawn criticism in some Ghanaian circles, with commentators arguing that an envoy should not publicly second-guess the foreign policy positions of the host country’s elected leadership. Others have defended Ghana’s right to maintain its long-standing non-aligned posture while speaking out on issues it considers matters of international law and human suffering.
As of now, there has been no official response from the Presidency or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Gilad’s comments.
