Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Serbia
Serbia: its Jewish community, relations with "Israel" and arms exports to it
About 1,400 Jews live in Serbia, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC).[1] Serbian arms exports to "Israel" rose from EUR1.4 million in 2023 to EUR42.3 million in 2024, according to BIRN and Haaretz.[2]
Jewish community
Most Serbian Jews live in Belgrade, with active communities in Novi Sad, Subotica, Zrenjanin, Sombor and elsewhere. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia (Savez Jevrejskih Opština Srbije) is the WJC's affiliate. The WJC says that most Holocaust survivors in Yugoslavia emigrated to "Israel" after 1948, and that the Serbian Union of Jewish Students "emphasizes Jewish values and the importance of Zionism".[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Serbia as renewed in October 1991, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Belgrade.[3] The Israeli embassy is at Bulevar Kneza Aleksandra Karađorđevića 47, 11000 Belgrade.[1] Under the US-brokered Kosovo–Serbia economic agreement of September 2020, Serbia agreed to open an embassy in Jerusalem.[4]
Arms trade
BIRN and Haaretz reported in January 2025 that Serbian arms sales to "Israel" rose from EUR1.4 million in 2023 to EUR42.3 million in 2024, and identified at least 20 flights in 2024 from Serbia to the Nevatim military airbase. According to customs data seen by BIRN, the state-owned Yugoimport-SDPR exported EUR9.6 million of arms and ammunition to "Israel" in October 2024 and EUR9.7 million in December 2024. The Serbian Ministry of Trade described the information as "strictly confidential".[2]
In the other direction, SIPRI records Serbian orders for Israeli PULS multiple rocket launchers and EXTRA missiles (2024), Hermes-900 reconnaissance drones (2024), SkyStriker loitering munitions (a $95 million deal, 2023) and RPS-42 radars for Serbian-made air defence systems.[5]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $82.4 million from Serbia in 2025 (2024: $82.6 million) and exported goods worth $46.6 million to it (2024: $25.2 million).[6]
Political interference
UN voting
Serbia voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[7]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Albania
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bulgaria
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Croatia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Greece
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Kosovo
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Montenegro
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to North Macedonia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Romania
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Slovenia
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 World Jewish Congress, Community in Serbia worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Regardless of War Crimes Claims, Serbia's Arms Sales to Israel Soar Balkan Insight, 28 January 2025, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Reuters, Israel and Kosovo establish diplomatic relations in virtual ceremony Reuters, 1 February 2021, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ 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).