Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Taiwan

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Taiwan: a Jewish community of about 100 in Taipei, unofficial representative offices with "Israel" since 1993, Israeli missile boats and anti-ship missiles in the 1970s–80s, Knesset delegations, and a disputed pledge to a medical centre in a West Bank settlement

Taiwan has about 100 Jews, nearly all in Taipei, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC).[1] "Israel" has been diplomatically committed to Beijing since 1992 and has no diplomatic relations with Taipei,[2] but the two sides have kept representative offices since 1993.[3] The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records Israeli Dvora missile boats, built under licence, and Gabriel anti-ship missiles for Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s.[4] In 2025 Taiwan's representative in "Israel" visited a medical centre being built in a West Bank settlement, which Israeli media reported as a donation and Taiwan's foreign ministry said was not a funding plan.[5][6]

Jewish community and religious life

History and demography

According to the WJC, a Jewish community made up mainly of American military personnel was set up in Taiwan in the 1950s and dwindled when US forces withdrew. The present community was founded in the mid-1970s by foreign businessmen. Nearly all of its roughly 100 members live in Taipei; most are posted there for two or three years by multinational companies or international organisations. More than half are American citizens and a quarter are Israelis.[1]

Communal organisations

Taipei Jewish Community. The WJC lists the Taipei Jewish Community, with Benjamin Schwall as president. Regular Shabbat and holiday services are held at a hotel in Taipei.[1]

How far is it Zionist? No statement by the community on Zionism or "Israel" was found.

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Taiwan


Zionist groups

Israel-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group. The Knesset's Israel-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group is chaired by Boaz Toporovsky. According to the Taiwanese presidential office, he had led three cross-party delegations to Taiwan by September 2025, and in July 2025 initiated a Knesset statement backing Taiwan's international participation, which he said was signed by 72 members, a majority of the Knesset. Meeting President Lai Ching-te in Taipei on 16 September 2025, he thanked Taiwan for helping to build a resilience centre at Kibbutz Palmahim for survivors of 7 October.[7]

Pro-Palestinian opposition. On the day of Toporovsky's meeting with Lai, a vigil in Taipei mourned Palestinians killed in Gaza, with slogans including "Stop the genocide" and "Abolish Zionism, Free Palestine".[8] The Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine and other groups say several Taiwanese companies supply components for American and Israeli weapons systems.[9]

Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomacy

The Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei says it has worked since 1993 to connect the two societies and provides consular services.[3] Its list of agreements with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv includes agreements on opening the offices, science and technology, double taxation, visa waivers, air transport and water technologies, and a memorandum on exchanging financial intelligence on money laundering and the financing of terrorism.[10] The Taiwanese presidential office says the two sides have signed 34 co-operation agreements.[7]

Source conflict: Anadolu Agency says the two sides have kept representative offices since 1992;[8] the Israeli office gives 1993.[3]

In September 2025 Lai told the Knesset delegation that he hoped to deepen co-operation in "semiconductors, ICT, digital security, and emerging defense technologies". The Israeli organisation Magen David Adom was invited to share its experience of combat casualty care at a forum of the presidential office's Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee.[7]

Military and intelligence

SIPRI records the following Israeli deliveries to Taiwan:[4]

  • 41 Shafrir-2 air-to-air missiles for F-104 and F-5E aircraft, delivered in 1975;
  • about 50 Dvora missile boats, ordered in 1979 and delivered in 1980–86, produced under licence in Taiwan as the Hai Ou;
  • about 500 Gabriel-2 anti-ship missiles, delivered in 1980–92, known in Taiwan as the Hsiung Feng-1, which SIPRI says were possibly produced in Taiwan without a licence;
  • one Astra-SPX light transport aircraft, delivered in 2000 to a civilian company for target towing.

In December 2025 Hao Nan wrote in ThinkChina that Taiwan's deputy foreign minister had reportedly made a secret trip to "Israel" that month. Hao argued that Taiwan has long sought Israeli expertise in missile defence, avionics, electronic warfare and drones through intermediaries, and that the ties now run through dual-use technology, third-country procurement and intelligence and cyber co-operation.[2]

Pagers used against Hezbollah. The pagers that exploded in Lebanon in September 2024 carried labels pointing to the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. Its head said he had licensed the brand to BAC Consulting, a company in Hungary, and the Taiwanese government said that none of the components had been made in Taiwan. The attack was blamed on "Israel"; the BBC cited a New York Times report, quoting Israeli intelligence officers, that BAC was a shell company acting as a front for "Israel".[11]

The Binyamin medical centre

Israel National News reported in July 2025 that Taiwan's representative in "Israel", Abby Lee, toured the Binyamin Regional Council in the occupied West Bank with Ohad Tal, a Knesset member from the Religious Zionism party, met the council head and Yesha Council chairman Yisrael Ganz, and "presented a financial donation" to the Nanasi Medical Center being built in Sha'ar Binyamin. It called this "the first time a foreign country has decided to donate toward the development of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria".[5] About 500 people protested outside the Taiwanese foreign ministry on 3 August 2025. The ministry said it had no concrete plan to fund anything in Binyamin,[6] and that Lee's July visit was only to "explore medical cooperation". It pointed to a $500,000 donation to Palestinian refugees through Mercy Corps; Anadolu Agency reported that Taiwan had also given $500,000 to Israeli medical patrols.[9]

Source conflict: Israel National News says a donation was presented; the Taiwanese foreign ministry says there was no funding plan.[5][6]

Trade

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics lists Taiwan separately. In 2025 "Israel" imported goods worth $1,341.6 million from Taiwan (2024: $1,146.3 million) and exported goods worth $1,108.6 million to it (2024: $946.4 million).[12]

Political interference

UN voting

Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations.

Ehud Barak's emails

No substantive references to Taiwan were found in the leaked emails of Ehud Barak; the hits are mainly newsletters and news alerts.

Jeffrey Epstein

No substantive references to Taiwan were found in the documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files. The hits for Taipei and Taiwan are mainly news digests and passing mentions of travel.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 World Jewish Congress, Community in Taiwan, Province of China worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hao Nan, Beneath the radar: Taiwan-Israel security between US and China ThinkChina, 22 December 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, About The Office embassies.gov.il, accessed 21 October 2026 (Israeli government-side).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Historic Support: Taiwan donates to new medical center in Binyamin region Israel National News, 6 July 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 民團抗議台以醫療合作　外交部：在本雅明無具體計畫 ("Civic groups protest Taiwan–Israel medical co-operation; foreign ministry: no concrete plan in Binyamin") Central News Agency, 3 August 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Office of the President, Republic of China (Taiwan), President Lai meets Israel-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group Chair Boaz Toporovsky president.gov.tw, 16 September 2025, accessed 21 October 2026 (Taiwanese government-side).
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Berk Kutay Gokmen, Taiwan vigil honors slain Palestinians as Israeli delegation meets Lai in Taipei Anadolu Agency, 16 September 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Girard Lopez, Hundreds protest against Taiwan's ties with Israel amid genocide in Gaza Anadolu Agency, 3 August 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
  10. ↑ Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, Bilateral relations embassies.gov.il, accessed 21 October 2026 (Israeli government-side).
  11. ↑ Peter Hoskins, Hezbollah pager blasts: Taiwan says device parts not made on island BBC News, 20 September 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.
  12. ↑ 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).
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