Israel–Lithuania relations are foreign relations between

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Israel recognized Lithuania's independence in 1991. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. Israel is represented in Lithuania through its embassy in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

which was opened in 2015. Lithuania has an embassy in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. There are 3,600

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s living in Lithuania. Both countries are full members of the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

History

Before

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, Lithuania was home for 160,000 Jews which were 7% of the population. In 2019, the prime minister of Lithuania

Saulius Skvernelis Saulius Skvernelis (born 23 July 1970) is a Lithuanian politician who served as prime minister of Lithuania between 2016 and 2020. He had previously served as police commissioner, and was Minister of the Interior from 2014 to 2016. Though he was ...

considered relocating the Lithuanian embassy to Israel to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In 2022, Israel gifted the capital city of Lithuania,

, a paint wall to celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations. The Lithuanian parliament condemned

October 7 attacks On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

against Israel in 2023 with 108 votes. The Lithuanian Air Force was sent to Israel multiple times to evacuate Lithuanian citizens. In April 2025, Kestutis Budrys said "Lithuania is monitoring what is being proposed by France and could also recognize a Palestinian state, but only "at the right time".

Visits

Trade

Israel and Lithuania trade is also influenced by the EU - Israel Free Trade Agreement from 1995.

Tourism

Since 2001 Israel and Lithuania abolished the need for visa to travel. Lithuania puts efforts to market the tourism for the Israeli visitors as the number of tourists from Israel increase. After the massacre of 7 October in 2023, Lithuania was shown by many Israeli media outlets as friendly, non-antisemitic, safe, green, interesting, and great cool escae from the summer.

References

External links

Israeli embassy in Riga (also accredited to Lithuania)

Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: list of bilateral treaties with Israel (in Lithuanian only)

Lithuanian embassy in Tel Aviv
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