Venezuela and Israel announced on Tuesday the restoration of consular relations between the two countries, ending a diplomatic freeze that began in 2009 when the late president Hugo Chávez expelled Israel's ambassador from Caracas in protest at a military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The announcement followed weeks of talks between Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and his Venezuelan counterpart, Félix Plasencia, and marks a significant reorientation of Venezuelan foreign policy.
The rapprochement was catalysed in part by Israel's humanitarian response to two devastating earthquakes — measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 — that struck northern Venezuela in late June, killing more than 6,300 people. Israel dispatched aid and rescue teams to the disaster zone, opening a channel for dialogue that diplomats described as "earthquake diplomacy." In a joint statement, both governments agreed to establish a coordination mechanism for consular services and to continue the bilateral technical cooperation that grew out of the emergency relief effort.
The restoration of ties also reflects the dramatic political changes Venezuela has undergone since January, when long-serving president Nicolás Maduro was removed from power in a US military operation. Interim president Delcy Rodríguez, who served in senior roles under both Chávez and Maduro, now governs under considerable pressure from Washington. The normalisation with Israel represents a sharp break from the anti-Israel stance that defined the Chávez-Maduro era, during which Venezuela cultivated close ties with Iran — including oil cooperation — and regularly championed Palestinian statehood. Chávez once declared in a nationally broadcast speech, "Cursed be you, State of Israel."
The welfare of Venezuela's small Jewish community also played a role in the diplomatic process. Plasencia met on Sunday with Isaac Cohen, chief rabbi of the Asociación Israelita de Venezuela, who had formally requested the restoration of relations to address the needs of the country's approximately 6,000 Jewish residents, according to figures from the World Jewish Congress. The joint statement highlighted the community as "a major historical bond of friendship" between the two nations.
The shift is not without domestic controversy. Around a hundred supporters of the deposed Maduro took to the streets on 24 July to protest the warming of ties with both Washington and Tel Aviv, burning US and Israeli flags. Rodríguez is increasingly facing discontent from hardline Chavista factions, signalling that navigating the country's foreign policy realignment will carry significant political costs at home.