[4] During the 1970s, Israel sold weapons and military equipment to the white government of Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War, eventually granting them a license to manufacture their own.

Israeli relations with South Africa in the 1970s led to Zimbabwe's verbal support for the PLO and comparisons of Zionism to apartheid.

He urged Robert Mugabe to establish diplomatic relations, saying his political policies hurt Zimbabwe's agriculture and technology industries.

[9] Previously, on November 2, Christopher Mutsvangwa, the official spokesperson of the ZANU-PF political bureau, criticized Israeli military actions in Gaza as "cruel and heinous bombing" and a "genocide against...the Palestinian[s]", and added that the ZANU-PF affirmed "support for the Palestinian people" and criticized Israel for "not committing to the two-state solution" and for other actions.

[12] In 2008, a Zimbabwean business delegation visited Israel for a week to explore new trade opportunities in the spheres of agriculture, telecommunications, cosmetics and solar energy.