Denmark–Israel relations

Jens Otto Krag & Levi Eshkol

Per Hækkerup & Levi Eshkol

During World War I, in 1918, the World Zionist Organization set up a central office in Copenhagen in order to present the claims of the Jewish people at the Paris peace conference.

From 9 April 1940, to August 1943, the Danish Jewish community was safe from persecution. The Danish underground smuggled 7,000 Jews to Sweden. This act brought to the endowment of the honorific Righteous Among Nations to the Danish resistance movement, and it is found at the base of the bilateral relations of the countries. Every 5 years, the rescue operation is commemorated and celebrated in both countries. In addition, in Jerusalem (1962) and Haifa (2013), there are special sculpture monuments dedicated to the rescue of Danish Jews, set in plazas bearing the name "Denya (Denmark) Square". In Jerusalem, there is a school named in Denmark's honor. King Christian X hospital in Eitanim is named after Denmark's king during World War II. In Copenhagen, the main monument the Stone at Israels Plads (1968).[1][2] The Ryvangen Memorial Park in Hellerup (1950) has references to Danish underground members who risked their lives to rescue Jews. Two memorial monuments more exist next to the wharves from where the Jews were sent to Sweden in Gilleleje and Køge.

Denmark voted for the partition of Palestine in 1947 and supports Israel in the United Nations. Denmark has an embassy in Israel, and Israel has an embassy in Copenhagen since 1949.[3][4] Denmark recognized and established diplomatic relations with Israel on 2 February 1949.[5]

During the first decades of the existence of the State of Israel, many Danes admired the young country, striving to flourish amid hostile neighbors, basing itself on socialist values. Thousands of Danes came to volunteer starting the 1960s in Israeli kibbuzim. It is estimated that over 20,00 Danes came to volunteer in Israel, and that 20 out of 179 parliament members in 2010 were actual kibbutz volunteers in their past.

In 2003, On the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the former prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told a crowd of people that the actions of Nazi collaborators are a stain on Denmark's otherwise good reputation. Because of the rescue of all Danish Jews during World War II, the Yad Vashem declared Denmark Righteous Among the Nations.[6] In May 2005, Denmark apologized for sending Jews to Nazi concentration camps.

During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, there were protests in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense. In Copenhagen, the police estimated between 500 and 600 people demonstrated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen.[7] 400 people protested in Aarhus, and 500 in Odense.[8]

The political lives of the two states have been somewhat intertwined: The former Israeli minister of social and diaspora affairs Michael Melchior was born in Denmark and is the son of former chief rabbi in Copenhagen, Bent Melchior, the nephew of former Danish minister of traffic and minister of tourism and communication Arne Melchior, and the grandson of the acting rabbi for the Jewish refugees from Denmark in Sweden 1943–45, Marcus Melchior; the executive director of the Peres Center for Peace 2001–2011, Ron Pundak, who played an important role in starting the Oslo peace process and was part of the core group behind the Geneva Initiative, is the son of the influential Danish journalist Herbert Pundik; and prominent Israeli politician Yohanan Plesner, former chairman of the Plesner Committee, is the son of Danish architect Ulrik Plesner.