page_title: Israel–Nepal relations
section_title: Political relations
hierarchical_section_title: Israel–Nepal relations / Political relations
caption_attribution_description: English: The king of Nepal, Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, in his visit to the Plastics Research Lab at the en:Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, in 1958. From left to right: Israel's foreign minister en:Abba Eban, Mahendra, Shaul Gassner and Prof. David Vofsi. The picture was taken using Shaul Gassner's camera. Shaul was working at the Plastics Research Lab at the time of Mahendra's visit. He agreed to release this photo under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License version 2.5. He also uploaded it to his Flickr album (https://www.flickr.com/photos/shaul_renee/630426076) under the same license.Čeština: Nepálský král Mahéndra (uprostřed v saku) během návštěvy Izraele v roce 1958, při návštěvě Weizmannova institutu věd.
context_page_description: Israel–Nepal relations, established on 1 June 1960, are the relations between Israel and Nepal making Nepal one of the first Asian countries to have diplomatic ties with Israel.
  Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal from 1959 to 1960, had a strongly pro-Israel foreign policy. Various head of states, including the king, head of government, ministers etc. have visited Israel and continued his foreign policy. Except for a brief 9 months period of Maoist government in Nepal, all other Nepalese governments in general have had a strongly pro-Israel foreign policy. However, Nepal is not one of the nations that refrained from allowing Palestine an observer status at the UN unlike nations such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, the Czech Republic, and Nauru.
context_section_description: Diplomatic relations between Nepal and Israel were established on 1 June 1960. Since the establishment of ties, Nepal has supported Israel internationally. Israel opened its embassy in Kathmandu in March 1961. The Nepalese Ambassador to Egypt was at first accredited to Israel. Nepal also opened the Nepalese honorary consulate general in Israel in 1993 and embassy in 2007. The current Nepalese Ambassador to Israel is Baija Nath Thapalia, who presented his credentials to President Peres on March 19, 2008.
  Nepal is the first and until recently only country in South Asia to recognize the existence of Israel. Nepal has maintained  diplomatic relations and continues to support the right of Israel to exist within secure and internationally recognized boundaries. Nepal voted in favour of Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), which upheld the right of all the states in the region to live in peace. Nepal has also welcomed every initiative from whatever quarter that seeks to resolve the Middle East problems like the Camp David Accords signed between Egypt and Israel in 1978 and the renewed peace process sponsored time to time by countries like the USA.
  In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed an Arab sponsored resolution (3379) that equated Zionism and racism and racial discrimination. Nepal expressed its reservation throughout the discussions on the issue and did not support the resolution. In the context of renewed peace in West Asia, the United States took the initiatives to introduce a draft resolution to repeal the resolution 3379 of 1975 in the 46th Session of the UNGA. A large majority adopted the draft resolution. Nepal voted in favour of the resolution. Israel, USA and the Western Countries appreciated Nepal's support for the resolution.
  Nepal welcomed the historic accord signed between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization on 13 September 1993 in Washington, DC, on autonomy for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank Town of Jericho and also the agreement signed on 10 September 1993 on mutual recognition to each other. Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala sent letters of appreciation to Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel and Yasser Arafat, President and PLO Chairman, for this courageous decision taken by them and expressed hope that this would be instrumental in establishing peace, order and stability in West Asia.
  Nepal welcomed the ceasefire announced after a summit held between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Leader Mahmud Abbas in Egypt on February 8, 2005 to end four years of bloodshed.
  Nepal opened its embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel on 13 August 2007.
caption: King Mahendra of Nepal (second from left) in a 1958 visit to Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science.
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