Israel–Bolivia relations resume

Israel and Bolivia will officially resume diplomatic relations on Tuesday, two years after La Paz severed ties over the war in Gaza, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced.

According to the ministry, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is set to sign the agreement in Washington alongside his Bolivian counterpart, Fernando Aramayo. Aramayo wrote on X that he was “happy about this new chapter we’re about to write in the relationship between Bolivia and Israel.”

Bolivia broke off relations in late October 2023, becoming the first country in Latin America to do so in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. 

The campaign followed the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which Israeli officials described as unprecedented. At the time, Israel condemned Bolivia’s decision as a “capitulation to terrorism,” criticizing the move by President Luis Arce’s leftist government.

Israel and Bolivia first established diplomatic ties in 1950. 

The new agreement marks a renewed attempt to rebuild a relationship that has experienced several political shifts over the past decades.