Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Japan

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Japan: the Jewish Community of Japan and Christian Zionist movements, diplomatic relations since 1952, the 2014 comprehensive partnership, Itochu's withdrawal from its Elbit Systems agreement over Gaza, and Ehud Barak's emails on brokering defence sales

Japan has about 1,000 Jews, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC), almost all of them foreigners and expatriates; they are represented by the Jewish Community of Japan.[1] Japan has had diplomatic relations with "Israel" since 1952,[2] and in 2014 Shinzo Abe and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed a "new comprehensive partnership" that included security, cyber and defence exchanges.[3] The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records no Israeli arms deliveries to Japan. In February 2024 the trading house Itochu ended its partnership with Elbit Systems, citing the International Court of Justice's order on Gaza.[4] Japan has several Christian movements that campaign for "Israel". The leaked emails of Ehud Barak show a Wikistrat executive asking him in 2015 to broker introductions to Japanese defence and intelligence officials for a commission.

Jewish community and religious life

History and demography

According to the WJC, Jews first came to Japan as merchants with the Dutch and British in the 16th and 17th centuries, and small communities formed in port cities such as Yokohama and Nagasaki after Japan reopened in 1854. Russian Jewish prisoners of war from the Russo-Japanese War founded a community in Kobe. In 1938 the Five Ministers Council decided not to expel Jews, despite German pressure, and in 1940 the consul in Kaunas, Chiune Sugihara, issued visas to Jewish refugees against orders from Tokyo. The community peaked during the US occupation and shrank after 1952. The demographer Sergio DellaPergola estimated 1,000 to 1,400 Jews in 2015, most of them in Tokyo, with a smaller community in Kobe.[1]

Communal organisations

Jewish Community of Japan (JCJ). The JCJ is the WJC's Japanese affiliate and the community's representative body. It is also affiliated to the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, and runs a Sunday school and classes from its centre in Tokyo. The WJC also lists the Japan-Israel Women's Welfare Organization, the Japan-Israel Friendship Association and the Japanese Women's Group. Tokyo has two synagogues, including Beth David, whose rabbi serves a multinational congregation, and there is a synagogue in Kobe.[1]

How far is it Zionist? In October 2023 the JCJ's newsletter wrote: "There is no separating the story of Japan's Jewish community and Israel. [...] Japan's Jewish community and Israel share an ironclad bond forged through decades of working together arm-in-arm." It said the community centre had hosted the Israeli prime ministers Moshe Sharett, Golda Meir and Shimon Peres and "every Israeli ambassador", and that in 1923, 40% of the proceeds from the sale of Nagasaki's Beth Israel synagogue went to organisations "helping Jews settle the Land of Israel". In the week after 7 October 2023 the community joined a rally near Shibuya Crossing and hosted a briefing by the Israeli embassy, and collected donations "to support Israel".[5]

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Japan


Zionist groups

Makuya. The Original Gospel Makuya movement was founded in Kumamoto in May 1948 by Ikuro Teshima, who, according to the movement, "saw the same invisible hand of God" in its founding and in the creation of "Israel". From 1962 Teshima sent his students to "Israel", and in 1967 he set up the "Israel Emergency Relief Committee of Japan". In December 1973 he led a march of 3,000 people through Tokyo, where, in the movement's words, they "demonstrated their fervent love for Zion"; he died three weeks later.[6]

Beit Shalom. Beit Shalom Japan, or Japanese Christian Friends of Israel, is a Protestant movement founded on 5 January 1946 by the pastor Takeji Otsuki. It says it has more than 100 churches across Japan and 8,000 members, and runs guest houses for Israeli visitors.[7]

Bridges for Peace Japan. In July 2024 The Jerusalem Post reported that the Japanese branch of Bridges for Peace had paid for a second intensive-care ambulance for Magen David Adom, costing $150,000, and hoped to pay for three more. Its director, Megumi Tabata, said that all 630 churches registered with the organisation had been praying "for Israel and for Israeli soldiers since October 7".[8]

Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomacy

The Israeli foreign ministry lists an embassy in Tokyo from January 1952 and honorary consuls in Kyushu and Osaka.[2] Benjamin Netanyahu visited Japan from 11 to 14 May 2014. In their joint statement, he and Abe welcomed the start of exchanges between Japan's National Security Secretariat and the Israeli National Security Council, agreed on cooperation in cyber security, affirmed "the importance of bilateral defense cooperation" and agreed to visits by officers of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to "Israel".[3][9]

At the UN conference on the two-state solution in September 2025, Japan said that "the expansion of settlement activities in the West Bank, and steps toward annexation are completely unacceptable", and that recognising a Palestinian state was "not a matter of 'if'" but of when. It said: "Should Israel take further actions that block the path to the realization of a two-state solution, Japan will be compelled to introduce new measures in response."[10]

Military ties

SIPRI records no deliveries of major Israeli arms to Japan.[11] In March 2023 Elbit Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with Itochu Aviation and Nippon Aircraft Supply at the DSEI Japan arms fair.[12] Itochu said the partnership had been based on "a request from the Japan's Defense Ministry for the purpose of importing defense equipment for the Self-Defense Force". After the International Court of Justice's order of January 2024 in South Africa's genocide case, and guidance from Japan's foreign ministry to respect the court's findings "in good faith", Itochu said in February 2024 that it would end the partnership. CNN reported that it had faced student protests in Tokyo and calls in Malaysia to boycott its FamilyMart chain.[4] Nippon Aircraft Supply said that its MOU with Elbit would end at the end of February 2024.[13] The independent outlet Choose Life Project reported in February 2024 that the Ministry of Defence was considering Israeli-made attack drones, had set aside about ¥10 billion in its 2023 budget and was trialling five models, one of them made by Elbit.[14]

Trade

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $952.8 million from Japan in 2025 (2024: $1,196.2 million) and exported goods worth $949.8 million to it (2024: $863.8 million).[15]

History: the Lod airport attack

On 30 May 1972 Kozo Okamoto and two other members of the Japanese Red Army opened fire at Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion Airport), killing or injuring about 100 people. The Asahi Shimbun reported that the group had been formed with the support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Okamoto, the only surviving attacker, was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Israeli court, was later given political asylum in Lebanon and died there in July 2026.[16]

Political interference

UN voting

Japan voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[17]

Ehud Barak's emails

The following items come from the two leaked mailboxes of the former Israeli prime minister and defence minister Ehud Barak (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by Handala, a group that Distributed Denial of Secrets describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.[18]

  • Wikistrat and Japanese defence officials. On 4 June 2015 Joel Zamel, chief executive of the consultancy Wikistrat, wrote to Barak that he was flying to Tokyo to meet the Defense Intelligence Headquarters and had "a number of unique, multimillion dollar defense capabilities to introduce to the Japanese market". He asked whether Barak could "broker an introduction" to senior defence or intelligence officials, or someone senior in the prime minister's office, adding: "Our agreed upon 10% commission would apply, which would likely equate to $100K+." No reply was found in the mailboxes.[19]

Jeffrey Epstein

Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files name Joichi (Joi) Ito, the former director of the MIT Media Lab and since 2023 president of the Chiba Institute of Technology, in more than 8,000 documents, according to The Asahi Shimbun.[20] In September 2019 The New Yorker reported that the lab had concealed a deeper fundraising relationship with Epstein than it had admitted, and that Epstein had been credited with securing at least $7.5 million in donations for it.[21] Ito resigned the next day, and MIT's president announced an independent investigation.[22] In March 2026, after the Justice Department's releases, Ito announced that he would leave his advisory posts with Japan's Digital Agency and the Cabinet Office, and the company he co-founded, Digital Garage, said he would step down as senior executive vice president. He said he had never witnessed or known of any of Epstein's crimes.[20] The Chiba Institute of Technology said that its trust in him "remains unchanged".[23]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 World Jewish Congress, Community in Japan worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011 (Israeli government-side).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Japan-Israel Joint Statement on Building a New Comprehensive Partnership, 12 May 2014, full text in Full Text of Japan-Israel Joint Statement: Building a New Comprehensive Partnership PanOrient News, accessed 21 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Japanese trading giant Itochu to cut ties with Israeli defense firm over Gaza war CNN, 6 February 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.
  5. ↑ Jewish Community of Japan, JCC Newsletter - Beresheet jccjapan.jp, 13 October 2023, accessed 21 October 2026 (Jewish Community of Japan-side).
  6. ↑ Original Gospel Makuya, Israel & Teshima makuya.org, 12 August 2019, accessed 21 October 2026 (Makuya-side).
  7. ↑ Beit Shalom Japan, About beitshalomfriends.com (in Hebrew), accessed 21 October 2026 (Beit Shalom-side).
  8. ↑ Japanese Christians make significant donations to Israel The Jerusalem Post, 20 July 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.
  9. ↑ Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet, Japan-Israel Summit Meeting and Other Activities japan.kantei.go.jp, 12 May 2014, accessed 21 October 2026 (Japanese government-side).
  10. ↑ Government of Japan, Statement at the High-level Conference on the Two-State Solution United Nations, 22 September 2025, accessed 21 October 2026 (Japanese government-side).
  11. ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Elbit Systems signs Memorandum of Understanding with Nippon Aircraft Supply and Itochu Aviation at DSEI Japan EDR Magazine, March 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Nippon Aircraft Supply, ELBIT社とのMOUについて ("On the MOU with Elbit") nasco.co.jp, February 2024, accessed 21 October 2026 (Nippon Aircraft Supply-side).
  14. ↑ 「このドローンはイスラエル製じゃないですか！こっちは？」防衛省担当「エルビットです」 ("'Isn't this drone Israeli-made? And this one?' Defence Ministry official: 'It's Elbit'") Choose Life Project, 27 February 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.
  15. ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy) (Israeli government-side).
  16. ↑ Japanese Red Army shooter Okamoto dies in Lebanon The Asahi Shimbun, 24 July 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
  17. ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).
  18. ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
  19. ↑ Email from Joel Zamel to Ehud Barak, "Japan", 4 June 2015, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!15/1 (208).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Joichi Ito quits posts, denies knowing about Epstein's crimes The Asahi Shimbun, 4 March 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
  21. ↑ Ronan Farrow, How an Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein The New Yorker, 6 September 2019, accessed 21 October 2026.
  22. ↑ L. Rafael Reif, Letter regarding action on the Media Lab MIT News, 7 September 2019, accessed 21 October 2026 (MIT-side).
  23. ↑ Chiba Institute of Technology, Regarding Media Coverage Concerning Our University's President chibatech.ac.jp, 28 February 2026, accessed 21 October 2026 (Chiba Institute of Technology-side).
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