After decades of anti‑Jewish rhetoric, Algeria says ‘why not?’ to normalization with Israel

For decades, Algeria’s foreign policy was built on an unshakable creed: “With Palestine, guilty or innocent.” That slogan has become a tenet of the regime’s quest to gain legitimacy while implementing anti‑Semitism policies that erased Algeria’s own Jewish heritage.

The country that still bars Israeli passport holders from entry and which closed and converted synagogues and desecrated cemeteries is now hinting at a possible normalization in principle.

On November 18, at a Washington event hosted by the Stimson Center, Algeria’s ambassador Sabri Boukadoum was asked point‑blank whether US pressure for normalization with Israel was conceivable. His answer:

“Everything is possible.”

Three words that detonated sixty years of ideological rigidity. For a regime that made anti‑normalization its sacred line, Boukadoum’s phrase was a signal of desperation with a prolonged state of diplomatic isolation.

Boukadoum understands that his country’s overtures to Washington will not bring about an alliance with the US unless Algeria normalizes with Israel.

Days before Boukadoum’s Stimson moment, Algeria voted for a U.S.‑drafted UN Security Council resolution on Gaza, a text Hamas rejected.

At home, the regime still chants anti‑imperialist slogans while ironically restricting pro‑Palestine rallies for fear of a spillover into domestic unrest in a country with rampant unemployment and corruption.

Abroad, Algeria adopts pragmatism to Washington and signals that even normalization with Israel is “possible.”

Algeria’s duplicity corrodes trust. For decades, anti‑Semitism and the Palestinian cause were instrumentalized by the regime for populist purposes and for power grab. Now, under pressure and isolation, the same regime pivots. The Algerian regime should now admit that slogans have been traded for survival.