Recently publicized documents from Israel’s Foreign Ministry from the mid-1980s reveal Israel’s extensive support for Sri Lanka during the beginning of the armed conflict, despite human rights concerns.
As reported by The Wire, the documents that were partially opened to the public in the Israel State Archives outline the scope of Israel’s support to the Sri Lankan government, including military equipment and training.
While the Sri Lankan government severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1970, cooperation between the two states was bolstered in the mid-1980s shortly after the decades-long armed conflict broke out between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Military equipment and training
The article by Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer, details how Sri Lanka agreed to the establishment of an ‘Israeli Interests Section’ at the United States Embassy in Colombo in 1984 because it wanted Israel to ‘assist in solving the Tamil terrorism problem.’
By 1988, Israel had sold Sri Lanka military equipment worth $30 million. Cables sent between 1985 and 1987 revealed that Israel sold machine guns, ammunition, patrol boats, electronic fences and communications equipment worth millions of dollars to Sri Lanka.
Beyond equipment, Israel had provided extensive training to the Sri Lankan military, as revealed in cables sent by Haim Divon, the head of the Israeli Interests Section in Colombo.
In one cable, Divon stated that ‘the Tamils control the Jaffna enclave without challenge’ and local forces believed that the training by the Israeli military would prepare them to ‘capture Jaffna in a swift offensive.’
A cable sent on February 15, 1987, further underlined how Israel responded positively to ‘Sri Lanka’s urgent request for assistance in security preparations against Tamil underground activity,’ including by training officers and providing ‘the urgent shipment of weapons and ammunition worth $3 million.’
According to the files, Israel also assisted in providing training to the Special Task Force (STF), a special police unit that was notoriously known for mass human rights violations.
A cable by Divon on March 18, 1987, revealed that the U.S. deputy ambassador in Colombo had approved for Israel to maintain ties with the local military, but warned that assistance to the STF was ‘a dubious investment in the short term and a grave mistake in the long term’ given ‘the horrific massacres it has carried out.’
Despite the warnings by the Americans, a cable sent on August 19, 1987, underlined that the Sri Lankan government decided to establish a new VIP protection unit drawn from the STF, and Israel agreed to send ‘a three-person Israeli team for four weeks to train the unit.’
The documents further revealed that two officers from Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, operated on a permanent basis in Sri Lanka. However, these Israeli military instructors and personnel were publicly presented as ‘agricultural advisers.’
Human rights concerns ignored
Sri Lanka's Minister of National Security Athulathmudali meets with troops in the mid 1980s.
The documents underlined Sri Lanka’s immense appreciation for Israel’s military assistance. One cable sent by Divon on May 21, 1987, detailed the president’s secretary’s disappointment with Western countries for their lack of military assistance. Another cable sent by Divon the following year, on January 4, 1988, included a letter from the president thanking Israel 'for the assistance provided in the fields of security and intelligence.’
While extensive military support was provided, Israeli officials in Sri Lanka also repeatedly expressed concerns about the country’s human rights situation. These reports include allegations that the STF was responsible for ‘the disappearance of many young men in the south suspected of belonging to the Tamil underground,’ and that the Sri Lankan army and air force had indiscriminately bombed Tamil civilians, hospitals and markets.
Israeli representatives also expressed concerns about the reports of torture of Tamils, the suspension of Tamil employees from the public service, and that government ministers were establishing private militaries and purchasing weapons, communications and surveillance equipment.
In a cable sent on January 12, 1988, Divon wrote that ‘every day we hear cases of assassination, murder and massacre.’
Request for financial support for the presidential election campaign
Jayewardene
While the government faced pressure from Arab states and opposition parties to close the Israeli section in Colombo, cables from August 1987 further reported that Sri Lankan president Jayewardene at the time requested $1 million in financial assistance from a Mossad representative for his re-election campaign.
On the request, Divon wrote that ‘the message regarding the elections is clear – after all, we have an interest in his victory, and therefore we should assist it. He assumed we know that if the opposition comes to power, we are out.’
According to the reports, the opposition party, which severed Sri Lanka’s relations with Israel in 1970 when it was in power, promised to expel the Israelis within 24 hours should they win the election and return to power.
While the publicly declassified documents do not confirm if Israel actually provided financial support for Jayewardene’s election campaign, they do confirm that Israel fulfilled his security requests, including by sending two bodyguards of Yitzhak Shamir, Israel’s Prime Minister at the time, for training.
Close collaboration in genocide
Both Sri Lanka and Israel are accused of conducting genocide and mass human rights atrocities against the Tamils and Palestinians, respectively. During the armed conflict, Sri Lanka indiscriminately bombed ‘No Fire Zones’ such as schools and hospitals, including by using Israeli weapons such as IAI Kfir fighter jets. These jets, for instance, were used to bomb the Sencholai orphanage in 2006, killing dozens of Tamil schoolgirls.
Meanwhile, Israel is accused of committing genocide against the Palestinians by international human rights organisations, genocide scholars, a United Nations Commission, and the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza since October 2023. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Both Sri Lanka and Israel have strengthened bilateral cooperation in recent years, including through labour exchange, military and intelligence cooperation, and trade and investment.
