On March 29, 2026, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke with his Panamanian counterpart, Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez. The two leaders discussed the war against the Iranian regime and other common concerns. Surprisingly, Panama’s counterpart informed the Israeli diplomat that Panama had secured from Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez the extradition of Ali Zaki Hage Jalil from Venezuela. Jalil participated in the 1994 bombing of Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, which killed all 21 people on board, including 12 members of Panama’s Jewish community and four Israelis. American, Panamanian, and Israeli intelligence services have long attributed the operation to Hezbollah. More than three decades later, the Central American nation has finally brought a key suspect within reach of justice.
The ties rest on shared threats from Iranian and Hezbollah networks that treat the Western Hemisphere as a theater for terror finance, drug trafficking, and proxy operations.
This extradition reflects a deepening geostrategic partnership between Israel and Panama—one of the most substantive security, intelligence, and defense relationships Israel maintains in Latin America. The ties rest on shared threats from Iranian and Hezbollah networks that treat the Western Hemisphere as a theater for terror finance, drug trafficking, and proxy operations. Panama controls the Panama Canal, one of the world’s vital arteries of global maritime trade. Israel supplies advanced technology, intelligence expertise, and decades of experience countering the same axis.
The foundation dates to Israel’s establishment. Panama voted in favor of the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan and recognized Israel in 1948. During Israel’s War of Independence, a Panamanian-registered airline smuggled 13 U.S.-origin aircraft to the struggling Israeli forces. Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir visited Panama in 1959, underscoring the warmth that initially marked bilateral ties. Quiet security contacts, however, survived even through the diplomatic chill of the 1970s, when Panama deliberately moved closer to the Non-Aligned Movement in order to rally broader international backing for its sovereignty campaign against the United States over control of the Panama Canal.
Those connections now mature into full operational cooperation. Panamanian police forces receive regular training from Israeli instructors. Jewish private security and intelligence consultants have operated in Panama City for decades. Panamanian forces now use Israeli Tavor assault rifles as standard issue. Between 2010 and 2014, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli visited Israel twice and signed several cooperation agreements. In 2012, Panama acquired advanced cyber-intelligence tools from the NSO Group, an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm. In 2022, the two countries signed a formal cybersecurity cooperation agreement covering education, information sharing, and joint capabilities. Panama City has hosted the Cybertech Latin America conference multiple times in the last ten years, drawing Israeli firms and regional partners.
In 2023, Panama’s foreign minister led a high-level delegation to Israel that included the ministers of commerce and agricultural development, with the intention of expanding the bonds between the two countries and allowing Israeli expertise to safeguard Panama’s most critical assets. Advanced Israeli water-management, drip-irrigation, desalination, and smart-water technologies support pilot projects that help the Panama Canal endure droughts. Israeli skills in logistics security, port management, and border surveillance further protect this global chokepoint.
Indeed, the economic relationship accelerates. The free trade agreement between the two countries—the first between Panama and any Middle Eastern nation—entered into force on January 1, 2020. In 2024, Panama imported $46 million in goods from Israel, of which $19 million consisted of arms and ammunition. Exports from Panama to Israel have grown at an annualized rate of 72 percent over the last five years.
Israeli cyber and critical-infrastructure expertise directly bolsters the canal’s resilience against hybrid threats—ranging from Iranian proxy sabotage to great-power economic pressure.
At the heart of this partnership lies the Panama Canal. In 2025, the canal recorded 13,404 transits and handled 489.1 million tons of cargo. This represents approximately 6 percent of global maritime trade and about 40 percent of the United States container traffic. In the first half of 2026, traffic rose further: 6,288 transits and 254 million tons of cargo, a 5 percent year-over-year increase. Recent global events underscore the stakes. The 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, triggered by Iran’s closure of the waterway amid escalating conflict, forced massive rerouting of oil and energy shipments. Businesses paid up to $4 million per vessel to transit the Panama Canal as an alternate route, driving a sharp surge in demand.
In this volatile environment, Panama’s security cooperation with Israel takes on geostrategic weight. Israeli cyber and critical-infrastructure expertise directly bolsters the canal’s resilience against hybrid threats—ranging from Iranian proxy sabotage to great-power economic pressure. In early April, Israel publicly backed Panama against Chinese actions targeting Panama-flagged vessels, reinforcing the partnership’s role in countering Beijing’s influence over key Latin American infrastructure. To underscore this point, Israeli President Isaac Herzog made the first-ever official visit by an Israeli president to Panama.
Politically, Panama stands apart across Latin America. It remains the only country in the region that has never recognized a Palestinian state. On October 28, 2025, Panama launched a parliamentary Israel caucus dedicated to deepening cooperation in technology, agriculture, security, and innovation. Its Jewish community of roughly 10,000 people—the largest in Central America—serves as a natural bridge for stronger business, cultural, and political relations.
In a hemisphere where Iranian and Hezbollah networks often face little resistance, Panama has chosen a concrete partnership. By pursuing justice for the 1994 victims, embracing Israeli training and technology, and fortifying the canal amid surging global traffic and great-power competition, Panama demonstrates what a meaningful geostrategic alliance delivers in practice.
