Why Friendship with Israel Doesn’t Match the Voting Record |
The Central Contradiction
In private meetings with Israeli diplomats, Nepal’s government officials are remarkably consistent. They offer the same message every time: “We value our bilateral relationship. We respect Israel. We want to strengthen ties. Our new government is reviewing our policies with fresh eyes.”
Then Nepal goes to the United Nations and votes against Israel.
Not once. Not occasionally. Repeatedly. Consistently. Without explanation.
This isn’t diplomatic nuance. This is a contradiction that undermines Nepal’s credibility, damages its relationship with Israel, and reveals something troubling about Nepal’s actual control over its own foreign policy.
The voting records don’t lie. And neither do the private meetings. But they can’t both be true at the same time.
The Pattern That Keeps Happening
Let me be specific. This isn’t a one-time anomaly we can excuse as a mistake or miscommunication.
In 2024-2025: Multiple UN General Assembly resolutions on Palestinian humanitarian issues resulted in Nepal voting YES. Meanwhile, when resolutions on Israeli security or defensive actions came up, Nepal was often absent or didn’t initiate counter-votes. The result: Nepal votes against Israel when voting occurs, but doesn’t show equivalent effort voting for issues Israel cares about.
In May 2026: The WHA79 World Health Assembly resolutions on health conditions in occupied Palestinian territory and Syrian Golan came up. Nepal voted YES on both. No explanatory statement. No indication this reflected a policy review or principled decision. The pattern simply continued as if nothing had changed.
The consistency is damning because it reveals something more troubling than disagreement: it reveals institutional habit masquerading as policy.
Nepal’s UN delegation votes the way it always has. Without apparent direction from elected government. Without explanation. Without regard to the contradiction with bilateral signals. In the last decade, Nepal has demonstrated diplomatic instability in various forums of the United Nations. Sometimes Nepal has stood up for the sovereignty and integrity of small nations and sometimes it has remained silent. Nepal has not been able to take the same stand in two incidents of the same nature. The main foundations of Nepal’s foreign policy are subjected to Non-alignment, UN Charter, mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, respect for mutual equality, non-aggression, peaceful settlement of disputes, cooperation for mutual benefit and world peace, etc. But Nepal does not seem to be stable at the base.
Israeli Officials-The Foreign Minister’s Meeting
Foreign Minister Sishir Khanal made signals that created expectations.
He met with Israeli officials on 20 April 2026, where he discussed bilateral and........