The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has hailed an Israeli strategic advisor’s on-air call for Biafran independence and an end to British support for Nigeria as a landmark diplomatic victory.

Noga Arbel, a former Israeli Foreign Ministry official, made the comments during a programme aired on Israel’s Channel 14 on August 14, 2026.

She urged Israel to press the British government to withdraw its backing for what she described as “Nigerian colonialism”.

“The Igbo tribe of Biafra contacted the state of Israel lately and this is a very big and exciting event,” Arbel said during the broadcast. “Biafra is under the Nigerian control for many decades, with the support of Britain due to their colonialism growth. It is time that we will help Biafra to take back the control on their land.”

Arbel also accused Britain of subordinating “Jews and Christians under the Islamic government control” in Nigeria and called on the Israeli government to formally demand that Britain cease its support for Nigeria.

IPOB’s Israel-based representative, Rachel Nwosu, described the broadcast as “the single most significant breakthrough in Biafra’s diplomatic history.

“Israel has spoken. The Jewish state, which knows the pain of subjugation, has now called on its government to stand with Biafra,” Nwosu said in a statement.

The broadcast came weeks after an IPOB delegation met with senior Israeli lawmakers in Jerusalem. The delegation, led by Mazi Chris Nwaogu, head of IPOB’s Directorate of State, was received on July 2026 by Knesset Deputy Speaker Nissim Vaturi and Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Limor Son Har-Melech.

IPOB had described that July meeting as a “historic” diplomatic milestone. The group said the lawmakers expressed sympathy for Biafra’s plight and raised concerns over the continued detention of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu has been in Nigerian custody since his re-arrest in Kenya in June 2021. On November 20, 2025, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him on seven terrorism-related counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

IPOB claimed the Channel 14 programme went beyond academic discussion of Biafra, issuing “a clear and unequivocal call for the Israeli government to formally intervene”. The group argued that “an independent Biafra will serve as a secure homeland for persecuted Judeo-Christians across Nigeria”.

The comments attributed to Arbel and IPOB’s reaction do not, however, establish an official change in Israeli government policy towards Nigeria or Biafra.

“Now, with Channel 14 explicitly calling for Israeli government action against Britain and Nigeria, the Knesset meetings are no longer symbolic – they are the opening salvo of a coordinated diplomatic offensive that threatens to unravel Nigeria’s territorial integrity,” IPOB said in its statement.