Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Sri Lanka

From Powerbase
Revision as of 11:02, 21 October 2026 by Geography Bot (talk | contribs) (New page: Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections (South and Central Asia B3); every reference checked)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Sri Lanka: relations with the Israeli state broken and restored several times, Israeli warships, aircraft and drones for the war against the LTTE, farm and care workers recruited for "Israel", and the 2024 Arugam Bay threat

Sri Lanka broke off relations with "Israel" in 1970 and again in 1990, and restored them in 2000.[1][2] Even without formal ties, "Israel" supplied Sri Lanka with planes, ships and know-how,[2] and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records Israeli Kfir combat aircraft, patrol and missile boats and drones, many of them "for use against LTTE rebels".[3] Since 2020 Sri Lankan caregivers, and since 2023 farm workers, have been recruited for "Israel" under government-to-government agreements.[4]

Jewish community and religious life

No Sri Lankan Jewish communal organisation was found. In October 2024 the Sri Lankan public security minister, Vijitha Herath, said that Israelis had set up prayer centres for religious observance during a Jewish festival while staying in the country, and described this as a temporary move.[5]

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Sri Lanka


Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomacy

According to J., Sri Lanka first broke off ties with "Israel" in 1970 "under pressure from the Muslim community".[2] President Junius Jayewardene established relations again on 27 May 1984 through an Israeli interests section at the US embassy in Colombo. In March 1990 President Ranasinghe Premadasa ordered the section closed, saying ties would be severed until "Israel" recognised the PLO and withdrew from "all occupied Palestinian territory". The closure was one of his election pledges.[1] Relations were resumed in June 2000 after "long months of quiet contact", conducted on the Israeli side mainly by the ambassador to India.[2] In 2011 the Israeli foreign ministry listed Sri Lanka as a non-resident posting covered by its ambassador in India.[6]

Arms

J. reported in 2000 that the military relationship was "the most important aspect" of ties, with "Israel" "having supplied Sri Lanka with planes, ships and know-how", and with military delegations buying arms in "Israel" even when there were no formal ties. It said that Sri Lanka wanted Israeli arms "for use in its long-running ethnic war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels".[2]

SIPRI records Israeli deliveries to Sri Lanka worth 484 million trend-indicator values for 1950–2025, making Sri Lanka the 14th-largest recipient of Israeli major arms.[3] Transfers include:[3]

  • a second-hand River-class frigate (Sri Lankan designation Gajabahu), delivered in 1959;
  • 18 Super Dvora patrol boats, delivered between 1987 and 2011;
  • 39 Shaldag patrol boats, 32 of them produced under licence in Sri Lanka as the Colombo class, delivered between 1996 and 2007;
  • 16 Kfir fighter/ground-attack aircraft, mostly second-hand, delivered between 1996 and 2005; SIPRI notes that most were "mainly for use against LTTE rebels";
  • two second-hand Reshef missile boats (Sri Lankan designation Nandimithra) in a $26 million deal, delivered in 2000 "for use against LTTE rebels", with 20 Gabriel-2 anti-ship missiles;
  • Scout, Searcher and Blue Horizon reconnaissance drones, delivered between 1998 and 2007, several of them "for use against LTTE rebels".

Trade

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $68.8 million from Sri Lanka in 2025 (2024: $78.7 million) and exported goods worth $61.2 million to it (2024: $90.5 million).[7]

Migration and labour

Caregivers. Sri Lankan women are recruited as home caregivers in "Israel" under a memorandum of understanding signed on 24 February 2020 between the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. The bureau states that 90 per cent of caregivers recruited are women and that "Israel" has temporarily suspended the recruitment of men.[4]

Farm workers. A second memorandum, of 5 November 2023, covers agricultural workers.[4] Newswire reported in September 2024 that 2,252 young Sri Lankans had been given jobs in Israeli agriculture under the agreement. They may stay for five years and five months and are selected by lottery.[8] The bureau has also advertised jobs in manufacturing and renovation work in "Israel".[4]

Israeli tourists. On 23 October 2024 the US embassy in Colombo said it had received "credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area" and urged US citizens to avoid the area.[9] The next day Herath said that three suspects had been arrested over potential threats to foreign tourists, "especially Israelis", in Arugam Bay, and that no foreign nationals were among them.[5]

Political interference

UN voting

Sri Lanka voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[10]

Jeffrey Epstein

Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files include the following references to Sri Lanka:

  • In May 2010 Tom Pritzker of the Hyatt hotel group wrote to Epstein: "we know the political leadership in all of these countries (e.g. India and Sri Lanka) because of Hyatt."[11]
  • In January 2013 an assistant told Epstein that a friend living in Sri Lanka wanted to know whether Epstein would be "heading to Sri lanka in Feb". Epstein replied: "ask him if he would like to meet with the president of the maldives". The friend replied that "Sri Lanka is only about an hour away from the Maldives".[12] On 1 February 2013 Epstein introduced the friend by email to "waheed", writing that he "lives in sri lanka".[13] Mohamed Waheed Hassan was then president of the Maldives.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sri Lanka to suspend relations with Israel UPI, 20 March 1990.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Sri Lanka resumes diplomatic relations with Israel J. The Jewish News of Northern California, 16 June 2000.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Israel slbfe.lk, accessed 21 October 2026 (Sri Lankan government-side).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Arugam Bay threat warning: Update from Police Minister Newswire, 24 October 2024.
  6. ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011 (Israeli government-side).
  7. ↑ 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).
  8. ↑ 2,252 Sri Lankans secure Agricultural Employment in Israel Newswire, 10 September 2024.
  9. ↑ US Embassy in Sri Lanka, Security Alert: Avoid Travel to Arugam Bay Due to Credible Threat (October 23, 2024) lk.usembassy.gov, 23 October 2024 (US government-side).
  10. ↑ 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).
  11. ↑ Email from Tom Pritzker to Jeffrey Epstein, "RE:", 29 May 2010, EFTA00754170, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Email thread between Jeffrey Epstein and an assistant, 28 January 2013, EFTA01908583, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 10, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Email from Jeffrey Epstein, 1 February 2013, EFTA00953107, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Jewish,_Zionist_and_Israeli_connections_to_Sri_Lanka&oldid=294170"