Bilateral relations
Israel?Sri Lanka relations
refers to the
bilateral relations
between
Israel
and
Sri Lanka
.
Sri Lanka has an embassy in
Tel Aviv
. The current Sri Lankan ambassador to Israel is M. H. M. N Bandara.
[1]
Israel formerly held an embassy in Sri Lanka, but today is represented in Sri Lanka by the
Embassy of Israel
in
New Delhi
,
India
.
History
[
edit
]
Since its independence in 1948,
Ceylon
maintained limited ties with Israel compared to most of its neighbors, which refused to collaborate with or recognize Israel. Under
UNP
Prime Minister
D. S. Senanayake
, Ceylon began buying weapons from Israel, including the
HMCyS Gajabahu
.
[2]
SLFP
Prime Ministers
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
and
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
were hostile to Israel in comparison, and preferred establishing closer relations with the
Palestine Liberation Organization
.
[2]
In 1971, as part of her
election campaign
, Sirimavo Bandaranaike promised to close down the Israel embassy in Sri Lanka in support of the Palestinian cause. After Bandaranaike came to power, the Israel embassy was closed down despite several threats by
Zionist
lobbies in the
United Kingdom
to boycott
Sri Lankan tea
.
[3]
By the late 1970s, however,
Lalith Athulathmudali
and
Ravi Jayewardene
believed that Sri Lanka should turn to Israel to combat the
Sri Lankan Tamil insurgents
and the terrorism of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
. Sri Lankan President
J.R. Jayewardene
established diplomatic ties with Israel.
Mossad
advised the Sri Lankan government to accelerate the Mahaweli development project to solve the energy crisis while providing the best strategy to settle
Sinhalese
farmers in the island’s dry zones as well as finding funding from international agencies for projects. In return, many contracts for designing and developing Mahaweli settlements went to
Solel Boneh
.
Diplomatic ties were suspended in 1992 under president
Ranasinghe Premadasa
due to pressure from pro-
Palestinian
Muslim groups in Sri Lanka
.
[2]
[4]
Relations were restored again in 2000.
[5]
Israel was a key source of weapons and training for the
Sri Lanka Armed Forces
during the
Sri Lankan Civil War
against the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
. Israel sold weapons to the country, including the
IAI Kfir
fighter jet, the
Super Dvora Mk III-class patrol boat
,
Saar 4
class
missile boats
and the
Gabriel missile
.
[6]
Israel also tested weapons off the coast of Sri Lanka such as the cruise missile
Popeye
.
[7]
In February 2020, Israel offered Sri Lanka technology in agriculture, education, transportation and IT sectors, which was openly welcomed by Sri Lankan President
Gotabaya Rajapaksa
.
[8]
In September 2021, the Sri Lankan government signed an agreement with Israel to upgrade Israeli-made Kfir fighter jets of the
Sri Lanka Air Force
.
[9]
During the
2023 Israel?Hamas war
, the
Foreign Ministry
expressed concern about the loss of life in both Israel and
Gaza
.
[10]
[11]
UNP President
Ranil Wickremesinghe
denounced
Hamas
' aggression, stating that criticism of Israel is not a valid justification for Hamas attacks.
[12]
Sri Lanka and Israel also signed an agreement to allow Israel to immediately hire 10,000 farm workers from Sri Lanka to replace 20,000 Palestinian agricultural workers who were banned from Israel and 8,000 foreign workers that fled Israel due to the war.
[13]
In January 2024 the government of Sri Lanka also began talks with Israel to send an additional 20,000 Sri Lankans for jobs in the Israeli construction sector.
[14]
Foreign workers
[
edit
]
In 2017, the governments of Israel, Sri Lanka, and
Nepal
signed a
bilateral agreement
to bring foreign
nursing aides
to Israel. The agreement resulted from the difficulties in supervising the quality of nursing aides arriving in Israel and in preventing
employment agencies
from taking illegal payment from potential workers in their country of origin to enable them to enter Israel. In order to identify the best ways to improve the system, a program brought 100 nursing aides, who participated in a special training program to prepare them for work in Israel. An
evaluation
of the pilot found that participants and employers both reported high satisfaction with the training and the process, with no indications from that the nursing aides had paid any more money than the amount specified in the initial agreement.
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Sri Lanka Embassy in Israel | about Sri Lanka's Ambassador in Israel"
.
- ^
a
b
c
Amarasinghe, Punsara (2021-03-12).
"The Israeli-Sri Lankan Relationship"
.
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies
. Retrieved
2023-10-08
.
- ^
"Features ? Online edition of Daily News ? Lakehouse Newspapers"
.
archives.dailynews.lk
.
- ^
"Sri Lanka to suspend relations with Israel"
.
- ^
"Sri Lanka to suspend relations with Israel"
.
- ^
"How Israel helped Sri Lanka defeat the Tamil tigers"
.
- ^
"Popeye Turbo - Israel Special Weapons"
.
nuke.fas.org
. Retrieved
2023-10-08
.
- ^
"Israel says keen to share tech with Sri Lanka | Daily FT"
.
www.ft.lk
. Retrieved
2020-02-13
.
- ^
Ticku, Nitin J.
"Developed By Israel, Designed For Asia ? Meet 'Re-Engineered' Kfir Fighter Jet That Resembles The Mirage 2000"
.
Eurasian Times
. Eurasian Times
. Retrieved
5 September
2022
.
- ^
"Sri Lanka Deeply Concerned about Attacks and Escalation of Violence in Israel and Palestine ? Ministry of Foreign Affairs ? Sri Lanka"
.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2023
. Retrieved
2023-10-12
.
- ^
Kugelman, Michael (2023-10-11).
"Will India Draw Closer to Israel?"
.
Foreign Policy
.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2023
. Retrieved
2023-10-12
.
- ^
Abeykoon, Gayan (9 October 2023).
"President condemns Hamas attack on Israel"
.
DailyNews
.
Archived
from the original on October 14, 2023
. Retrieved
13 October
2023
.
- ^
"Sri Lanka agrees to send 10,000 farm workers to Israel"
.
NewsWire
. 7 November 2023
. Retrieved
8 November
2023
.
- ^
"20,000 Israel construction jobs : Sri Lanka holds talks"
.
NewsWire
. 4 January 2024
. Retrieved
5 January
2024
.
- ^
Yaniv Cohen and Jenny Brodsky, "
Evaluation of a Pilot Program to Recruit Foreign Nursing Aides ? Bilateral Agreements between the Government of Israel and the Governments of Nepal and Sri Lanka
," Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (Jerusalem), 2020.
|
---|
Africa
| | |
---|
Americas
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
Former
| |
---|
Multilateral relations
| |
---|
Diplomacy
| |
---|