The Pacific island nation of Nauru has inaugurated its first embassy in Israel in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced alongside visiting Nauruan Foreign Minister Lionel Aingimea.
“Israel’s relations with the nations of the South Pacific are advancing tremendously,” Sa’ar said in a readout from the Foreign Ministry.
He added that, through MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry’s international development cooperation programme, Israeli emergency-care doctors will work to strengthen local medical capabilities in Nauru. Israel will also provide the nation with “medical equipment, including cardiac ultrasound equipment, as well as water-purification systems capable of producing tens of thousands of litres of clean water each day”.
Aingimea affirmed Nauru’s “unwavering” support for the Jewish state, saying that Nauru is “one of Israel’s most reliable and consistent diplomatic allies at the United Nations”. He noted that Nauru votes with Jerusalem 71% of the time, a figure he said “will increase very quickly”.
Israel has previously thanked Nauru — one of the smallest nations in the world, with a population of about 12,000 — for its support at the UN and in other international forums.
Sa’ar and Aingimea agreed on the embassy opening during a June 2025 meeting in Fiji. Israel is currently represented in Nauru by a non-resident ambassador based in Fiji.
The move reflects efforts by the Foreign Ministry “to strengthen Jerusalem’s international standing and encourage additional countries to expand their diplomatic presence in the capital”, according to a ministry statement.
Eight other countries have opened or relocated their embassies to Jerusalem in recent years, including the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Paraguay and Somaliland, as well as the Pacific nations of Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced plans last month to move their embassies to Jerusalem.
