As of early 2026, around 26 to 29 United Nations member states do not formally recognize the State of Israel, primarily driven by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Non-recognizing nations are mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, including Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Lebanon.
Many countries, primarily in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, do not recognize Israel, including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, North Korea, Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh, with some having severed ties or suspended relations, largely due to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and geopolitical alignments, while others like UAE, Bahrain, Morocco have normalized relations recently.
The State of Israel and the Republic of Türkiye formally established diplomatic relations in March 1949. Less than a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Turkey recognized Israeli sovereignty, making it the world's first Muslim-majority country to do so.
The other five (Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.) do not recognize Palestine, but Italy and Japan have indicated that they would, the former contingent on Hamas meeting certain conditions.
Egypt (1979), the Palestinian Authority (1993), Jordan (1994), Bahrain (2020), United Arab Emirates (2020), Sudan (2020) and Morocco (2020), signed peace treaties or agreements that ended their participation in the boycott of Israel.
Who did the land originally belong to, Israel or Palestine?
By more than 1,000 years, “Israel” predates “Palestine.” The land then became home primarily to an Arab population, again for more than a millennium. Both Jews and Arabs thus have a legitimate claim to the land. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen myriad wrongs and brutalities on both sides.
Qatar has been a key financial supporter of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, transferring more than $1.8 billion to Hamas over the years. In consultation with the U.S. and Israeli governments, $30 million were transferred monthly to Hamas, according to a Qatari official interviewed by Der Spiegel in 2023.
Hamas has promoted Palestinian nationalism in an Islamic context and initially sought a state in all of former Mandatory Palestine. It began acquiescing to 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State of Israel formally established diplomatic relations in 1992. While the Republic of China had de jure recognized Israeli sovereignty in 1949, it eventually lost the Chinese Civil War, bringing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to power across mainland China.
None! Israel allows tourists from every single nation, even those that do not recognize Israel. Every nationality is allowed to enter Israel, but some need a visa approved in advance. Check out our article on visas to Israel to see which type of visa you'll need for your journey.
Both countries are full members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Ireland only extended de jure recognition to Israel in 1963, and both countries established diplomatic relations in 1975, when Ireland's ambassador to Switzerland was also accredited to Israel.
“McDonald's Corporation is not funding or supporting any governments involved in this conflict, and any actions from our local development licensee business partners were made independently without McDonald's consent or approval. “Our hearts are with all of the communities and families impacted by this crisis.
Israel is God's chosen people. Not only that, but God promised to Israel the presently disputed land from the time of Abraham onward. God said, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring'” (Deuteronomy 34:4).
Amalek (/ˈæməlɛk/; Biblical Hebrew: עֲמָלֵק, romanized: ʿĂmālēq) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or the territories of Amalek, which they inhabited.
26 UN member states do not formally recognize Israel: 14 members of the Arab League (Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen); 10 non-Arab members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Iran, ...
The declaration of a State of Palestine (Arabic: دولة فلسطين) took place in Algiers on November 15, 1988, by the Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
A total of 164 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while only 8 voted against it: Israel, the United States, Micronesia, Argentina, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Palau, and Nauru. Meanwhile, nine countries abstained: Ecuador, Togo, Tonga, Panama, Fiji, Cameroon, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, and South Sudan.
[- - -] We believe the establishment of a Palestinian State on the West Bank would be destabilizing and harmful to the peace process. Reagan continuously opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state or negotiating with the PLO. In September he proposed Palestinian autonomy under Jordanian supervision.
