Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Suriname
Suriname: one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Americas, a 2022 pledge of an embassy in Jerusalem that was withdrawn, and its stance on Gaza
Suriname has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Americas, now about 200 people.[1] In May 2022 its foreign minister told the Israeli foreign minister that Suriname would open an embassy in Jerusalem,[2] but a month later President Chan Santokhi said there was no budget for it.[3]
Jewish community and religious life
History
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) says Sephardi Jews arrived from Brazil and settled near Thorarica in the 1630s, and that more came with the English in 1652 and from Cayenne in 1664. The English and then Dutch colonial governments granted them privileges and autonomy, and they founded the colony of Jodensavanne on the Suriname River, where "they owned numerous plantations and slaves". Most later moved to Paramaribo. The community numbered about 500 at the end of the Second World War; 102 Surinamese Jews who were in Europe were murdered in the Holocaust. Many left at independence in 1975 and during the civil war of the late 1980s, and the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities merged.[1]
Organisations
- Kerkeraad der Nederlands Portugees Israelitische Gemeente (the Suriname Jewish Community): the WJC's Surinamese affiliate, based in Paramaribo. Its Neve Shalom synagogue, described as liberal, is the only one in use; it has had no permanent rabbi for over 40 years. The WJC says the former Sephardi synagogue, Zedek v'Shalom, "has been leased to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and now forms the centerpiece of their collection of synagogues from around the world".[1]
- How far is it Zionist? No information on Zionist activity.
How far is it Zionist? No information on Zionist activity.
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Powerbase does not yet have a page on Chabad in Suriname.
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy and the Jerusalem embassy
- The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list records relations established in February 1976, with Suriname covered from the ministry in Jerusalem and an honorary consul in Paramaribo.[4] The WJC says "Israel" is represented by its ambassador in Caracas, Venezuela, and an honorary consulate in Paramaribo.[1]
- On 30 May 2022 the Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid, said that the Surinamese foreign minister, Albert Ramdin, had told him at a meeting in Jerusalem that Suriname planned "to soon open an embassy in Jerusalem". The two signed a co-operation agreement between their ministries, and Lapid offered aid after severe flooding.[2]
- The announcement drew criticism from some members of parliament.[5] On 23 June 2022 Santokhi told the National Assembly: "There is no budget for setting up an embassy of Suriname in Israel." Suriname had appointed a non-resident ambassador to "Israel", Stevanus Noordzee, in March 2022. Santokhi did not rule out an embassy in future, saying he would await a report from the foreign minister.[3]
Arms
SIPRI records no Israeli arms transfers to Suriname.[6]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Suriname separately in its trade-by-country table.[7]
Migration and aliyah
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Suriname separately; it is included under "other countries".[8]
Political interference
UN voting
- Dagblad Suriname says Suriname recognised the State of Palestine in 2011, under President Desi Bouterse, and that in September 2025 it was among more than 77 countries absent from the General Assembly hall for the speech of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.[9]
- In June 2025 Suriname voted for a General Assembly resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, adopted by 149 votes to 12.[10]
- Suriname voted for the General Assembly's endorsement of the New York Declaration on a two-state solution in September 2025.[11]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Guyana
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Brazil
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Venezuela
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 World Jewish Congress, Community in Suriname worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Suriname to open embassy in Jerusalem, Lapid says Ynetnews, 30 May 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Suriname backtracks on building Jerusalem embassy Al Jazeera, 24 June 2022.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Suriname backtracks on Jerusalem embassy citing budget Stabroek News (Reuters), 24 June 2022.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Statistical Abstract of Israel 2024, Table 2.55: Immigrants, by period of immigration, country of birth and last country of residence CBS, 2024.
- ↑ Suriname wijst Israël af: Afwezig bij Netanyahu's VN-toespraak vol ontkenning Dagblad Suriname, 29 September 2025.
- ↑ Suriname stemt in VN vóór permanent staakt-het-vuren in Gaza Dagblad Suriname, 14 June 2025.
- ↑ 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).