https://powerbase.info/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Jewish%2C_Zionist_and_Israeli_connections_to_MaltaJewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Malta - Revision history2026-10-26T00:24:50ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.35.14https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Jewish,_Zionist_and_Israeli_connections_to_Malta&diff=296490&oldid=prevGeography Bot: New page: Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections (Europe W1b); every reference checked2026-10-25T12:28:24Z<p>New page: Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections (Europe W1b); every reference checked</p>
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{{short description|'''Malta: its Jewish community, relations with "Israel" and recognition of Palestine'''}}<br />
About 100 Jews lived in '''Malta''' in 2023, according to the [[World Jewish Congress]] (WJC).<ref name="WJCMT">World Jewish Congress, [https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/MT Community in Malta] ''worldjewishcongress.org'', accessed 25 October 2026.</ref> Malta established relations with "Israel" in 1965<ref name="MFA2011">Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110805075305/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/about%20the%20ministry/diplomatic%20missions/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations] ''mfa.gov.il'', archived 5 August 2011.</ref> and recognised the State of Palestine on 22 September 2025.<ref name="TimesMalta2025">[https://timesofmalta.com/article/malta-formally-recognises-palestine-un-summit.1116631 Watch: Malta formally recognises Palestine at UN summit] ''Times of Malta'', 22 September 2025, accessed 25 October 2026.</ref><br />
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==Jewish community==<br />
The WJC says that Jews probably first reached Malta with Phoenician traders and settled more permanently in the first century CE. They were expelled after the Inquisition reached Malta in 1492, and under the Knights of Saint John the only practising Jews on the island were slaves. Before the Holocaust Malta was, according to the WJC, "the only European country that didn't require visas for Jews to enter".<ref name="WJCMT" /><br />
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The community, mostly Sephardic and living in or around Valletta, is represented by the Jewish Community of Malta (JCM), the WJC's affiliate. There is a Jewish Center in Valletta, and Chabad is active in close conjunction with the JCM.<ref name="WJCMT" /><br />
===Chabad===<br />
:''Main article: [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement]]''<br />
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==Israeli state and commercial ties==<br />
===Diplomacy===<br />
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Malta as established in December 1965, with "Israel" represented by its ambassador in Italy.<ref name="MFA2011" /> The WJC says that "Israel" is represented in Malta by its ambassador in Rome, at the Embassy of the State of Israel, Via Michele Mercati 14, 00197 Roma.<ref name="WJCMT" /><br />
===Trade===<br />
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $178.8 million from Malta in 2025 (2024: $59.9 million) and exported goods worth $189.8 million to it (2024: $245.6 million).<ref name="CBS">Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), [https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/DocLib/2026/fr_trade12_2025/td1.pdf Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports] ''CBS'', December 2025 issue (library copy).</ref><br />
==Political interference==<br />
===Recognition of Palestine===<br />
Prime Minister Robert Abela announced Malta's recognition of the State of Palestine at the United Nations on 22 September 2025, calling for the release of the hostages: "No ifs, no buts. The hostages must come home." ''Times of Malta'' reported that Malta had been expected to recognise Palestine in 2024 alongside Norway, Spain and Ireland but had postponed the step, and that the Israeli ambassador, Ruth Cohen Dar, said that "Israel" "categorically rejects" the recognition.<ref name="TimesMalta2025" /><br />
===UN voting===<br />
Malta voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.<ref name="UNNY2025">United Nations General Assembly, [https://www.alquds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Voting-rec-L.1-Rev.1.pdf 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'').</ref><br />
==Ehud Barak emails==<br />
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 (hacker group)|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.<ref name="DDoSBarak">Distributed Denial of Secrets, [https://ddosecrets.org/article/ehud-barak-emails Ehud Barak emails], 27 August 2025, with download at [https://data.ddosecrets.org/Ehud%20Barak%20emails/ data.ddosecrets.org], accessed 25 October 2026.</ref><br />
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*On 2 October 2013 the businessman Gary Fegel wrote to Barak about a planned joint venture: "In regards to our JV company, it will be either a Malta or Gibraltar company. The reason for this is that both Malta and Gibraltar have favourable Double Tax Treaties with both Israel and Switzerland, which makes these juristictions ideal for both of us."<ref name="BarakMT">Email from Gary Fegel to Ehud Barak, "Pavel / JV", 2 October 2013, file <code>ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!42/1 (353).html</code>, ''Ehud Barak emails'', [https://ddosecrets.org/article/ehud-barak-emails Distributed Denial of Secrets], released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026.</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Andorra]]<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Liechtenstein]]<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Monaco]]<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to San Marino]]<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Vatican City]]<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Luxembourg]]<br />
*[[Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Iceland]]<br />
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==Notes==<br />
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[[Category:Zionist movement|Malta]]<br />
[[Category:Malta]]<br />
[[Category:Europe|Malta]]</div>Geography Bot