Israel–Sri Lanka relations refers to the bilateral relations between

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has an embassy in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

. The current Sri Lankan ambassador to Israel is M. H. M. N Bandara. Israel formerly held an embassy in Sri Lanka, but today is represented in Sri Lanka by the Embassy of Israel in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

Since its independence in 1948, Ceylon maintained limited ties with Israel compared to most of its neighbors, which refused to collaborate with or recognize Israel. Under UNP Prime Minister

D. S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...

, Ceylon began buying weapons from Israel, including the HMCyS Gajabahu.

SLFP The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka� ...

Prime Ministers S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike were hostile to Israel in comparison, and preferred establishing closer relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 1971, as part of her

election campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

, Sirimavo Bandaranaike promised to close down the Israel embassy in Sri Lanka in support of the Palestinian cause. After Bandaranaike came to power, the Israel embassy was closed down despite several threats by

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

lobbies in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to boycott Sri Lankan tea. By the late 1970s, however,

Lalith Athulathmudali Lalith William Samarasekera Athulathmudali, PC (; 26 November 1936 – 23 April 1993), known as Lalith Athulathmudali, was a Sri Lankan statesman. He was a prominent member of the United National Party, who served as Minister of Trade and Sh ...

and Ravi Jayewardene believed that Sri Lanka should turn to Israel to combat the Sri Lankan Tamil insurgents and the terrorism of the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

. Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene established diplomatic ties with Israel. Mossad advised the Sri Lankan government to accelerate the Mahaweli development project to solve the energy crisis while providing the best strategy to settle

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

farmers in the island’s dry zones as well as finding funding from international agencies for projects. In return, many contracts for designing and developing Mahaweli settlements went to Solel Boneh. Diplomatic ties were suspended in 1992 under president Ranasinghe Premadasa due to pressure from pro-

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

Muslim groups in Sri Lanka. Relations were restored again in 2000. Israel was a key source of weapons and training for the

Sri Lanka Armed Forces The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). T ...

during the Sri Lankan Civil War against the

. Israel sold weapons to the country, including the

IAI Kfir , abbreviated , is a Japanese martial art that emphasizes being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to sudden attacks.Christensen, Karen and Allen Guttmann et.al (2001) ''International Encyclopedia of Women and Sport ...

fighter jet, the

Super Dvora Mk III-class patrol boat The Super Dvora Mark III-class patrol boat is the latest generation of the Dvora family of fast patrol boats or fast attack craft (FPB/FAC). Manufactured by IAI Ramta in 2004 these vessels are capable of travelling up to in littoral waters than ...

, ''Saar 4'' class

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They a ...

s and the

Gabriel missile Gabriel is a family of sea skimming anti-ship missiles manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The initial variant of the missile was developed in the 1960s in response to the needs of the Israeli Navy which first deployed it in 1970. S ...

. Israel also tested weapons off the coast of Sri Lanka such as the cruise missile

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In September 2021, the Sri Lankan government signed an agreement with Israel to upgrade Israeli-made Kfir fighter jets of the Sri Lanka Air Force. During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

expressed concern about the loss of life in both Israel and Gaza. UNP President

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

denounced

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...

' aggression, stating that criticism of Israel is not a valid justification for Hamas attacks. Sri Lanka and Israel also signed an agreement to allow Israel to immediately hire 10,000 farm workers from Sri Lanka to replace 20,000 Palestinian agricultural workers who were banned from Israel and 8,000 foreign workers that fled Israel due to the war. In January 2024 the government of Sri Lanka also began talks with Israel to send an additional 20,000 Sri Lankans for jobs in the Israeli construction sector.

Foreign workers

In 2017, the governments of Israel, Sri Lanka, and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

signed a

bilateral agreement Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

to bring foreign nursing aides to Israel. The agreement resulted from the difficulties in supervising the quality of nursing aides arriving in Israel and in preventing

employment agencies An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...

from taking illegal payment from potential workers in their country of origin to enable them to enter Israel. In order to identify the best ways to improve the system, a program brought 100 nursing aides, who participated in a special training program to prepare them for work in Israel. An

evaluation Evaluation is a systematic determination and assessment of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project or any other intervention or initiative to ...

of the pilot found that participants and employers both reported high satisfaction with the training and the process, with no indications from that the nursing aides had paid any more money than the amount specified in the initial agreement.Yaniv Cohen and Jenny Brodsky,
Evaluation of a Pilot Program to Recruit Foreign Nursing Aides – Bilateral Agreements between the Government of Israel and the Governments of Nepal and Sri Lanka
" Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (Jerusalem), 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel-Sri Lanka relations Sri Lanka Bilateral relations of Sri Lanka

History

Foreign workers

See also

References