Venezuela pivots toward Israel under acting President Delcy Rodriguez

Six months after U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez has shifted the country’s foreign policy to align more closely with Washington. Her government is recasting the long‑standing socialist stance toward Israel, moving from hostility to overtures aimed at re‑establishing diplomatic ties that were cut in 2009.

Rodriguez’s administration avoided criticizing the United States or Israel over recent U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran, issued a statement calling for dialogue, and distanced Caracas from Tehran. In April she sent a Passover greeting to Venezuela’s Jewish community and chief Rabbi Isaac Cohen, emphasizing no anti‑Semitic positions. After the June earthquakes, Venezuela publicly thanked Israel for sending a disaster‑response team, praising its search‑and‑rescue expertise and marking the first high‑level contact between the two nations in years.

The moves are framed as a pragmatic survival strategy, intended to secure U.S. support for the Rodriguez government and open the way for formal diplomatic restoration with Israel.