Israel–Marshall Islands Relations

Israel maintains full diplomatic relations with the Marshall Islands.[5] As of the cited diplomatic-missions table's May 2016 update, Israel's representation was non-resident, with the responsible ambassador based at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. The table also listed an Israeli consulate in Majuro headed by an honorary consul.[1]

The Marshall Islands is a freely associated state of the United States under a Compact of Free Association. Under the Compact, the United States provides defense, funding grants, and access to social services and assumes responsibility for the country's security. A 2019 source stated that the Compact was scheduled for renewal in 2024.[6]

On September 21, 2023, Marshall Islands President David Kabua participated in a meeting in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders from several other Pacific countries. Netanyahu thanked the participants for their friendship and proposed cooperation drawing on Israel's capabilities in addressing climate change and its effects on vulnerable island nations.[7]

The precise chronology of the diplomatic relationship contains an unexplained discrepancy. The Jewish Virtual Library's diplomatic-missions table lists Israel–Marshall Islands relations as established in November 1986, while its separate chronology of countries recognizing Israel records the Marshall Islands under September 16, 1987.[1][2] The dates may refer to distinct diplomatic milestones, but the sources do not identify what each milestone represented.

The broader regional context involved Israel developing early diplomatic ties with several Pacific nations. The American Jewish Committee characterized the Pacific island states as longstanding democratic allies of Israel at the United Nations and stated that Israel was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with a number of countries in the region.[6]

Israel has pursued development engagement in the Pacific region that encompasses the Marshall Islands, combining humanitarian aims with the cultivation of political goodwill.[8] Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, MASHAV, has funded or partnered on agricultural, water, disaster-preparedness, and clean-energy projects across the Pacific, and the Marshall Islands has been a specific beneficiary.[8][6]

Water security has been a central focus. G.A.L. Water Technologies provided the Marshall Islands with a vehicle-mounted water-purification system in response to the country's serious shortage of drinking water.[8] Israel also supplied mobile desalination systems to the Marshall Islands and Papua New Guinea following drought conditions in the region.[9]

In February 2015, Israel launched an additional mobile desalination unit intended for the Marshall Islands, with Israeli government officials and representatives of G.A.L. Water Technologies Ltd. present at the ceremony.[10] The package included approximately $150,000 in water-related assistance and healthcare-sector support, and an Israeli team traveled to the Marshall Islands to train local personnel to operate the system.[10] Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said the Marshall Islands' president had personally requested assistance during a meeting with Pacific leaders in Samoa.[10]

In a 2000 Congressional Record statement, Representative Peter Deutsch said Israel had provided technical assistance and educational grants to people in the Marshall Islands.[11] Israeli nongovernmental organizations, including IsraAID and Tag International Development, have also participated in aid efforts in Pacific island states that maintain close relations with Jerusalem.[8] Leaders of these states receive official welcomes in Israel, and Israel sends medical and agricultural experts to the South Pacific.[12]

In 2019, the Israel-based company Neema partnered with the Marshall Islands government to develop a blockchain-based digital currency called the "SOV," intended to become legal tender.[13] The project faced criticism from the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Treasury Department, and Marshall Islands bank officials over potential effects on existing banks and money-laundering risks, as well as technological and U.S. regulatory concerns.[13]

The Marshall Islands built a reputation as one of Israel's most reliable supporters in the United Nations General Assembly. In a September 2000 Congressional Record statement, Representative Peter Deutsch described the Marshall Islands as one of Israel's staunchest UN supporters and noted its consistent alignment with Israel and the United States on votes concerning the Jewish state.[11]

An Institute for National Security Studies analysis examined 76 General Assembly resolutions concerning Israel from 2015 through 2018—18 in 2015, 18 in 2016, 21 in 2017, and 19 in 2018—and found that the Marshall Islands, together with Australia, Canada, Micronesia, Nauru, and Palau, voted alongside the United States in favor of Israel in all 76.[9] As of the UN Watch database's July 31, 2026 update, the Marshall Islands had voted for Israel on 120 General Assembly resolutions since 2015, or 71 percent; against Israel on 17, or 10 percent; and abstained on 32, or 19 percent.[14]

Several individual votes illustrate the pattern. In March 2006, the Marshall Islands was among only four states—the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands, and Palau—to vote against General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/251, which created the 47-member UN Human Rights Council and was adopted 170–4.[15] In November 2012, the Marshall Islands was among the nine states that voted against granting the "State of Palestine" nonmember-state status in the General Assembly.[12]

In December 2017, when the General Assembly voted 128–9 on a resolution rejecting U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and calling on states not to establish diplomatic missions there, the Marshall Islands voted against it alongside Israel, the United States, Micronesia, Nauru, and several other states.[16] A separate December 2017 Jerusalem-related vote passed 151–6, with the Marshall Islands again among the six dissenting countries.[17]

At the committee level, in November 2016 the Marshall Islands voted with Israel against several resolutions concerning Palestinian refugees, Israeli practices, the applicability of the Geneva Convention, Israeli settlements, and Palestinian natural resources, though it abstained on resolutions concerning assistance to Palestine refugees and the occupied Syrian Golan.[18] During the General Assembly's 70th session, it similarly voted against resolutions on Palestinian self-determination, UNRWA operations, refugee property, Israeli settlements, and the status of Jerusalem.[19]

The U.S. Department of State's 2020 voting-practices report recorded that, of the 15 Israel-related resolutions adopted by roll-call vote, the Marshall Islands voted against 13, matching the United States on 13 votes and achieving a 93 percent voting coincidence with Washington on Israel-related matters.[3]

The Marshall Islands' historically close alignment with Israel and the United States at the UN underwent a substantial shift by 2024. The U.S. Department of State's 2024 voting-practices report found that, across 15 Israel-related roll-call votes, the Marshall Islands voted the same as the United States once, voted opposite it 12 times, and was partially aligned twice, producing a voting coincidence of 13 percent—down from 93 percent in 2020.[4] The Marshall Islands was also among three countries that dropped off the list of states voting against at least one Israel-related resolution.[4]

A separate point of divergence arose over nuclear disarmament. In 2014, the Marshall Islands filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice against Israel and eight other nuclear-armed states, seeking to compel compliance with nuclear-disarmament obligations.[20] The Marshall Islands argued that these states were bound by the disarmament provisions of the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty under customary international law, even though Israel was not a party to the treaty.[20] Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson responded that the case did not appear relevant because Israel was not a treaty member and said it did not seem to have "any legal legs."[20]

In 2016, the International Court of Justice declined to proceed with the cases against China, France, Israel, North Korea, Russia, and the United States because those states had not recognized the court's jurisdiction.[21]

The INSS author argued that the small Pacific island states' voting behavior resulted more from their dependency on the United States than from their relations with Jerusalem.[9] This is an analytical interpretation rather than a settled finding. At the same time, direct Israeli assistance, high-level meetings, and longstanding diplomatic ties document bilateral substance beyond the countries' voting patterns.