Israel and Malaysia do not maintain formal diplomatic relations. Malaysia recognises Palestine as a sovereign state while not recognising Israel, and has stated that any steps toward recognition would be conditional on Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as part of a two-state solution.United Nations Security Council Ministerial-level Open Debate on the Situation in the Middle East Including the Palestinian Question, 23 January 2024. Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia). Retrieved 18 June 2025
Despite Malaysia's lack of diplomatic ties and its opposition to Israel's policies, limited commercial relations between the two countries have existed. Israeli passport holders are generally prohibited from entering Malaysia without written permission from the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs, and Malaysian passports contain a statement indicating that they are valid "for all countries except Israel". However, Israeli citizens who also hold another nationality may enter Malaysia using their non-Israeli passports.
History Federation of Malaya The first political contact between Malaysia and Israel was made when Israeli foreign minister Moshe Sharett visited Kuala Lumpur in 1956, the year before the independence of the Federation of Malaya. He described the reception of his proposal to appoint an Israeli consul in Kuala Lumpur as "favourable without hesitation" on the part of his official host, Tunku Abdul Rahman (later the first prime minister of Malaysia).
On 26 August 1957, Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a congratulatory letter to Tunku, telling him that Israel was ready to set up an "appropriate representation" in Kuala Lumpur. When Malaya's bid for membership in the United Nations came up in 1957, Israel voted in support of Malaya's acceptance. On 23 December 1957, a Malayan UN delegate told a member of the Israeli delegation that Malaya recognised Israel, but had no intention of establishing formal diplomatic ties, despite signs of mutual friendliness with fellow Israeli diplomats.
Later in November 1959, Tunku told an Israeli envoy that he could not establish any diplomatic ties with Israel due to staunch Muslim opposition. In 1961, Tunku also mentioned that he was pressured by Middle East countries, especially Egypt, not to develop diplomatic relationships with Israel.
Federation of Malaysia The formation of modern Malaysia in 1963 resulted in strong opposition from Indonesia. Indonesia accused Malaysia of adopting neocolonialism with British support, leading to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation from 1963 to 1966. To improve its image, Malaysia decided to appeal to Middle Eastern Arab nations by branding itself as a Muslim country and condemning Israel. In March 1963, the Israeli company Astraco was permitted to open a branch in Kuala Lumpur, but rebranded as Interasia. The following year, the company moved its operations to Singapore due to commercial considerations. However, despite this, Israel sent an official from its foreign ministry to the company in order to maintain the only Israeli presence in Malaysia. Moshe Yegar was appointed for this mission from November 1964 as head of the Israeli commercial concern, but the real intention was to establish diplomatic ties with Malaysia. However, in January 1966, Moshe was quietly expelled from Kuala Lumpur due to domestic political pressure and foreign pressure from other Muslim countries.
By 1965, Malaysia had become increasingly isolated from Israel. It refused to grant any entry permits for Israel diplomats, and took part in anti-Israeli activities in the United Nations. On 23 August 1966, Tunku Abdul Rahman declared that Malaysia no longer recognised Israel in the Parliament of Malaysia, simultaneously criticising Singapore for employing Israeli advisors. In 1968, Israeli seamen were forbidden to disembark in Malaysian ports. By 1974, trade with Israel and granting of entry permits to Israeli citizens had been completely prohibited. At the same time, Malaysia expanded its diplomatic relationship, having gone from relations with only two Muslim countries in the Middle East in 1967, to having relations with all Middle Eastern countries, except Israel, by 1991. Despite the hostility, Malaysia occasionally showed some acknowledgement of Israel; in 1968, Abdul al-Rahman, Tunku's son and a businessman, visited Israel as a representative of a lumber company. In November 1969, Malaysian representatives of the Asian Sports Federation asked their Israeli colleagues to support Malaysia's bid to host the Asian Games in 1974.
The Mahathir era
On 27 January 1981, Malaysia's fourth prime minister Mahathir Mohamad urged Arab nations to recapture the Palestinian territories by force. In April 1984, Malaysia supported the resolution at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to sever ties with any country that moved its ambassador to Jerusalem. At this time, Malaysia was also a supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and in 1974, Malaysia had allowed the PLO to open an office in Kuala Lumpur. In August 1982, under Mahathir's reign, the office was given full diplomatic recognition, with Malaysia's foreign minister claiming that Israel should recognise the PLO before any Malaysian recognition of Israel could take place.
In August 1984, a performance by the New York Philharmonic was cancelled in Kuala Lumpur, since Malaysia demanded that works from the Swiss Jewish composer Ernest Bloch be removed from the programme. In 1983, Mahathir alleged that the Jews were trying to destabilise Malaysia through Jewish-controlled newspapers. In 1986, Mahathir also claimed that the Jews had not learned their lessons from two thousand years of exile and persecution by the Nazis, claiming that the Jews themselves had become persecutors; Mahathir also attacked the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal Asia as Zionist publications. The visit of Israeli President Chaim Herzog to Singapore in 1986 also sparked fierce criticism from Malaysia, with calls to cut off Singapore's water supply and burn the Singaporean flag. In 1992, Malaysia denied entry of a delegate from Israeli national airline El Al to attend an international flight conference held in Malaysia. In December of the same year, Malaysia denied the entry of an Israeli football player Ronny Rosenthal of Liverpool F.C.; the team cancelled its visit to Malaysia in protest. In March 1994, Malaysia prohibited the screening of the Steven Spielberg movie Schindler's List, because the movie was aimed at gaining support for Jews. However, after protests from the United States and Australia, Malaysia allowed the screening of the movie, but with the condition that seven scenes involving violence and sex be cut. However, Spielberg insisted that the movie be shown in its entirety or not at all, and eventually removed all his films from Malaysia.
The signing of the Oslo I Accord between Israel and the PLO in September 1993 led Mahathir to tone down his attacks against Israel. Mahathir even considered establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, but he stressed that Israel has to do more to bring peace to the Middle East and the Palestinian lands would be returned. Malaysia later pledged to help Gaza and Jericho rebuild infrastructure in response to the Israel-PLO agreement. However, in December 1993, Mahathir said that Malaysia was not ready yet to establish diplomatic relations with Israel because Israel has not recognized the state of Palestine. Mahathir also accused Zionists of undermining Malaysia's integrity and trying to destroy Islam. In July 1994, Tunku Abdullah, brother of the King of Malaysia paid a private visit to Israel. When his visit was made known in Malaysia, Mahathir denied any government knowledge or involvement in the visit. In 1994, a small number of Israelis were allowed to enter Malaysia to participate in a number of conferences touching various topics. In January 1996, Israeli finance minister Avraham Shochat said that Israel was looking forward to establishing diplomatic ties with Malaysia. However, the Malaysian foreign ministry replied that Malaysia was not in a hurry to establish such diplomatic ties.
During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Mahathir asserted that George Soros was responsible for the financial crisis in the country for trading with the Malaysian ringgit. Mahathir also asserted the existence of an international Jewish conspiracy. When Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim visited New York City, he said that Mahathir sincerely believed in the "international Jewish plot". Shortly thereafter, Mahathir fired Anwar for corruption and sexual offences. Mahathir's remarks sparked international criticism. However, Mahathir did not apologize. An official letter from Malaysia, not from Mahathir, said that Mahathir's remarks were incorrectly quoted in the media. While the World Jewish Congress praised the letter and considered the incident closed, Israel viewed it as an inadequate apology. On 21 June 2003, Mahathir's political party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) distributed an antisemitic book named The International Jew during its general assembly. On 16 October 2003, two weeks before Mahathir stepped down from the post of prime minister, he delivered a speech saying that "the Jews rule the world".
Mahathir had sent letters to Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak in the years 1993, 1997 and 1999, respectively. In 2012, the contents of these letters were made public to dispel allegations by radical Islamists that Mahathir's government had moved in the direction of recognizing the State of Israel.
21st century In 2005, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi criticised Israel, although less severely than his predecessor Mahathir. He accused Israel of perpetrating terrorism against Palestine. He also criticised Palestinian terrorism against Israel as impractical but not as immoral because the Palestinian people are fighting for self-determination. Generally, Israeli policymakers do not take particular interest in Malaysian affairs except during the Moshe Sharett era in 1956, the Golda Meir era in the 1960s, and the Yitzhak Rabin era in the 1990s. Otherwise, Israel would have taken countermeasures against Malaysia through the United States against Mahathir's pronouncements.
In February 2018, Malaysia allowed a delegation of Israeli diplomats led by David Roet to attend a conference hosted by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. This was the first time since 1965 that an Israeli diplomat visited Malaysia. Malaysia, as a member of the United Nations, is required to grant visas to all delegates who attend UN-associated international conferences.
Mahathir became the prime minister of Malaysia for the second time in 2018. In January 2019, Mahathir compared Israel to his predecessor Najib Razak, who was facing criminal charges at the time for his involvement in the 1MDB scandal. During the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University in September 2019, Mahathir defended his antisemitic remarks in the context of freedom of speech. He has also said once that he was "glad to be labelled as anti-Semitic".
Malaysia criticized Israel's actions during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, and together with Indonesia and Brunei urged the United Nations to end "the atrocities carried out against the Palestinian people". In June, Sagi Karni, Israel's ambassador to Singapore, said that Israel would be willing to establish diplomatic relations with southeast Asia's Muslim-majority countries, including Malaysia: "We are willing to talk, we are willing to meet, and the door is open as far as we are concerned. I don't think it's so difficult to find us."