On 10 August 2026, the governments of Venezuela and Israel announced they’d restore consular services between the two countries.
The current thaw in relations represents a new chapter in the political retreat of the Venezuelan government, which, under US tutelage, has been dismantling any semblance of the anti-imperialist and internationalist policies of the past. It represents yet another bucket of cold water for grassroots Chavismo, which watches as the leadership of the Bolivarian movement sinks ever deeper into a pit of shame, betrayal, capitulation, and cowardice.
[Originally published in Spanish at luchadeclases.com]
This latest move cannot be viewed as a mere administrative gesture, but rather as a far-reaching political manoeuvre, set against Zionism’s crisis of international legitimacy and the Venezuelan regime’s subservience to US imperialism.
The measure, presented as “limited technical coordination,” reopened an official channel between Caracas and Tel Aviv after a 17-year break, and did so on the basis of a “humanitarian” situation that Israel was able to capitalise on with extraordinary speed.
Relations between Venezuela and Israel had been severed since January 2009, when Hugo Chávez expelled the Israeli ambassador and severed diplomatic ties. This was in response to Israel’s 2008 offensive in Gaza, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians.
In one clip, recorded on 2 June 2010, Hugo Chávez categorically condemned the state of Israel, which had shortly before attacked a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, killing 10 unarmed activists.
Catastrophe as opportunity
The terrible earthquakes of 24 June have an official death toll of 6,509, while unofficial sources report a total of 17,797 people missing. Entire neighborhoods – primarily in La Guaira state – have been devastated. The tragedy is being used by the Israeli government to re-establish its political presence in Venezuela.
The first contact to facilitate the arrival of Israeli ‘aid’ was made through the Zionist community in Venezuela, with the coordination of Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Cohen.
For several years, this rabbi had been in contact with Delcy Rodríguez regarding the reestablishment of relations between the two countries.
Shortly after, a mission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was sent to Venezuela, including specialists from the Home Front Command, engineers, and diplomatic personnel. Since then, Israeli military personnel have been seen in Venezuela inspecting buildings, coordinating damage assessments, participating in rescue operations, and designing reconstruction plans. Netanyahu boasted the Israeli delegation was not only rebuilding ruins, but relations with Caracas.
It’s clear this was not merely about humanitarian aid. Zionist personnel deployed flags, cameras, and carefully crafted propaganda to portray themselves as saviours in a devastated country. This is at a time when international attention is focused on the IDF’s criminal offensive in Lebanon; when the genocide against the people of Gaza continues; while far-right Zionist settlers continue to storm into the West Bank; while facilities are being prepared for the execution of Palestinian prisoners; on top of an endless list of other atrocities.
Among the most visible Israeli figures on this mission were Yoed Magen, Elad Edri, and Roni Kaplan. Magen, a high-ranking diplomat and Israel’s ambassador-designate to Mexico, led the civilian component of the delegation; Edri, a brigadier general and chief of staff of the IDF’s Home Front Command, led the military and technical component; and Kaplan, a reserve major and the IDF’s Spanish-language spokesperson, served as the media face of the Israeli mission.
Each played a complementary role: diplomacy to mend relations and break the isolation, and propaganda to whitewash the actions of the Zionist war machine.
The very same state massacring tens of thousands of Palestinians by bombing homes, hospitals, schools, and refugee camps – while starving the survivors – was parading itself in Venezuela (and in Colombia) as an indispensable force for rescuing survivors from under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Clearly, the goal of this public relations campaign was none other than to whitewash its image.
The backlash against this propaganda campaign was immediate. Anti-imperialist groups and those in solidarity with Palestine condemned the Israeli presence through street demonstrations
Even people that do not identify with the left understood the cynicism of the mission. Every news article, video, or interview featuring Israeli personnel in Venezuela is met with an avalanche of comments expressing rejection and criticism – proof that opposition to Zionism extends across broader social strata than just organised activists.
The Venezuelan government and Zionist propaganda
Several meetings were held between the Israeli mission and Venezuelan authorities, including Delcy Rodríguez, who even requested an extension of the Zionist mission.
On 8 July, an initial meeting took place, which was presented to the public as aimed at assessing damage and deploying technical support to the affected areas. On 21 July, a second high-level meeting took place to express “recognition, gratitude, and closure of the Israeli mission.”
The normalisation of relations with Israel can only be understood as part of the Delcy Rodríguez regime’s absolute submission to U.S. imperialism. Following the military invasion of Venezuela on 3 January, 2026 and the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, the PSUV leadership chose to surrender national sovereignty and control over oil and mineral resources to Washington without resistance, in exchange for their survival. This cowardly leadership has subjected the country to a colonial existence under Yankee imperialism. Venezuela no longer has sovereign control over its resources and wealth, and central decisions are made in Washington rather than in Caracas.
Prior to 3 January, the leadership of the PSUV was responsible for orchestrating a series of efforts to stifle all forms of worker and popular participation, sapping the revolutionary energy of the masses and killing the Bolivarian Revolution in the process. It did all this while tarnishing the image of socialism in the eyes of the masses. In this way, they have doomed the future of Venezuelan workers, who from now on must not only fight to recover the economic, political, and social gains that were snatched from them by the counterrevolution, but must now also struggle for national liberation.
The shameful practice of bowing to U.S. imperialism has conditioned the PSUV leadership to do the same with Washington’s allies. Previously, Maduro showed himself to be weak when it came to criticising Israel and the genocide in Gaza. The reason for this was the reactionary alliance the PSUV forged with Christian churches (aligned with Christian Zionism) for electoral purposes. Through this alliance, the state channelled countless resources to various churches for infrastructure repairs, events, and rallies where the Israeli flag was frequently displayed.
Addicted to its subordinate status, the Venezuelan regime has even engaged in diplomatic spats with Iran – a country that, prior to 3 January, was a strategic ally at the highest level.
On 28 February, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry issued a shameful statement following the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran, condemning the “military course of action” while at the same time denouncing Iranian retaliation as “unwarranted” and “reprehensible” – words that, in effect, ended up passing moral judgment on the legitimate response of a country under attack by imperialism.
More recently, a diplomatic clash occurred when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated in an interview, “[Iran] is not Venezuela, where you take one person and everyone else gets scared and backs down.” Caracas’s response was to reprimand the Iranian ambassador, Ali Chegini. But even the most hysterical diplomatic complaint is incapable of concealing the reality that is laid bare before the eyes of the world.
What does Israel want in Latin America?
The main goal of Israel is to launder its image and spread its influence in the region. The alliances and influence Israel seeks in Latin America are intended to open markets for its military, technological, and surveillance industries, while reinforcing its alignment with its master and primary financier: US imperialism.
For Zionism, the recent earthquakes in Venezuela and Colombia have presented opportunities to use aid as a geopolitical lever. Israel’s ‘humanitarian’ collaboration with the Venezuelan regime and new Colombian government serves as a bridge to normalise what should be politically unacceptable: relations with a supremacist, expansionist government that promotes the genocide, occupation and expulsion of the Palestinian people – a government that also serves as a platform for the interests of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East.
From the Venezuelan section of the Revolutionary Communist International, Revolución Comunista, we express our categorical rejection of any form of relationship with the state of Israel. No amount of ‘humanitarian aid’ can whitewash the systematic massacre of the Palestinian and Lebanese people, nor any ‘technical coordination’ that can separate Zionism from its reactionary, supremacist, and genocidal essence. Anyone who extends a hand to Israel is staining themselves with blood.
We call on all anti-imperialists, revolutionaries, leftists, and democrats to maintain a firm and constant mobilisation against the reestablishment of ties with this genocidal entity. We reject any attempt to whitewash Zionism on Venezuelan soil and demand the immediate suspension of all official ties with Israel. Let us not allow our people’s grief over this tragedy to be exploited to clean up the image of a criminal state.
No to the restoration of relations with the genocidal state of Israel!
Intifada until victory!
Down with Zionism and its lackeys!
