Israel and Gibraltar - Joint Issue

Israel and Gibraltar lie at opposite ends of the Mediterranean Sea, with Gibraltar to the west (at the south-western end of the Iberian Peninsula and of Europe) and Israel to the east. Marine traffic has existed between Eretz Israel and Gibraltar throughout history.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht and declared a British crown colony in 1830.

The first Jews arrived at the fortress of Gibraltar in the 14th century, but after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Jewish merchants returned to live in Gibraltar only after it became British, after receiving special permits from the British generals who controlled the jurisdiction. They benefited from the fact that Gibraltar’s community was extremely unified, with a longstanding tradition of tolerance toward different religions and cultures.

As Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory whose foreign relations and political ties are governed by the British parliament, its political relations with Israel are by power of Israeli-British relations. There is an honorary consul of Israel in Gibraltar along with an active Gibraltar-Israel Chamber of Commerce that promotes business and cultural relations between the two countries.