The Israeli government on 19 October approved the opening of an embassy in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and appointed Amit Gil-Beiz as its ambassador to Estonia.
The Isaeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced plans to open an embassy in Tallinn already in July 2025 when he was visiting Estonia.
“This demonstrates our intention to strengthen our bilateral relations,” Sa’ar said at the time. However, he didn’t give a timeline for the embassy’s opening.
The new ambassador should be taking his post in Tallinn in November this year, and the new embassy is to be opened around the same time.
“Estonia is a friendly country to Israel, in which, in my opinion, there should have been an Israeli embassy open a long time ago,” Sa’ar said at the cabinet meeting.
Potential to deepen cooperation
“It is a country which excels in innovation, digital technology and advanced technology. Establishing an embassy in Tallinn is part of a broader process that I am leading to strengthen ties with the Baltic states.”
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, added that it was the right decision and noted there was a potential to deepen cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
Estonia and Israel have maintained diplomatic relations since 1992, and Estonia opened its embassy in Israel in 2009, although it is in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.
Until now, the Israeli ambassador to Estonia has resided in Helsinki, Finland.
Israel was among the first countries to supply arms to Estonia in the early 1990s, as the country sought to rebuild its defence capabilities after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, the relations between Estonia and Israel have matured into a strategic partnership, underpinned by shared concerns over regional security, Russian aggression and the growing threats posed by authoritarian regimes.
