A delegation organized by AIPAC recently completed a nine-day visit to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, Jewish Insider has learned, as the pro-Israel lobbying group seeks to promote ties with Israel among key U.S. allies. 

Over 200 of AIPAC’s largest donors as well as its CEO, Elliot Brandt; board chair, Michael Tuchin; board president, Bernie Kaminetsky; and top professional staff traveled to the region from Oct. 22-30, according to a participant with knowledge of the trip’s background.

Though Israel already has warm relations with all three countries, as both Israel and the U.S. look to increase ties in the Indo-Pacific region, the trip was meant to highlight the Jewish state’s relevance in its defense prowess, relationship to the U.S., shared democratic values, growing relations to the Gulf states — which have historically provided the Asian nations with much of their oil and gas — and acumen in the technology and business sectors, the participant said. 

The large group met with high-level leadership in each country, including the Taiwanese president, vice president and secretary-general of its National Security Council, Korean ministers and a Japanese senior diplomat.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te told the group that “the Taiwanese people often look to the example of the Jewish people when facing challenges to our international standing and threats to our sovereignty from China,” and that the T-Dome, a missile interceptor project announced by Lai earlier this month, was inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome and President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” project.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv said in a statement to JI, “We welcome AIPAC’s recent visit in Taiwan, underscoring the positive synergies and mutual benefits of partnerships among Taiwan-U.S.-Israel. We continue to work with all stakeholders to deepen cooperation in trade and advanced technologies, to safeguard our shared interests of peace and prosperity.”

The Japanese leg of the trip coincided with Trump’s visit to Tokyo, and the Japanese government had just been sworn in — with its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. 

Takaichi, known as a national security hawk, was elected within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on a platform of boosting defense capabilities and reinforcing Japan’s role in the region, largely through prioritizing the country’s alliance with the U.S., which the AIPAC delegation highlighted as areas of success for Israel.

In South Korea, the delegation visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone, its border with North Korea, where participants heard from Mike Chinoy, a veteran CNN correspondent for the region. The conversations with government officials focused on shared concern between Israel and Korea about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and cooperation with Iran.

The group also met with business leaders throughout the region who, the participant said, see Israel’s “start-up nation” as a compliment to their own “scale-up nations,” not well-known for innovation but able to rapidly scale technological advancements. The delegation emphasized the multilateral possibilities in the “new Middle East” as a result of Israel’s ties with its Abraham Accords partners, something the participant said is not yet well understood in the region. 

AIPAC has taken similar delegations to the Gulf, India and Europe. The Asia visit had been planned for 2020 but was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

TOKYO — As Japan decided against recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen told Jewish Insider in a wide-ranging interview in Tokyo that he is appreciative of Japan, “an important factor of the international community.” 

On Friday evening, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya called his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, to update him that after weeks of deliberation, Japan decided it will not recognize a Palestinian state at the UNGA. 

“Sa’ar appreciated [the] decision and briefed [Iwaya] about Israel’s actions against Hamas chiefs in Qatar and IDF operations in Gaza,” Cohen told JI. “I join my foreign minister in appreciating Japan, a member of the G7, and an important factor of the international community, and for the deep friendship of our nations.” 

“A recognition of a Palestinian state would be a reward to Hamas after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, would not contribute to peace and would not build on the trust of Israelis in the future,” he said. In recent weeks, Cohen relayed that message to Japanese ministers as the country weighed recognizing a Palestinian state as several governments, including those in Britain, France, Australia and Canada, have announced plans to do at the UNGA.

“This recognition is null and void because when you acknowledge a state there have to be conditions — what are the boundaries? Do you have effective control of the population? Nothing about that works with the Palestinians,” Cohen told JI. “Are they going to dismantle Hamas? Are they going to continue paying salaries for families of suicide bombers? Are they going to continue to have pacts with Iran against Israel? Is there going to be a repetition of Oct. 7 because they have a state? We are the Jewish people, we always have to be concerned and worried.” 

For Cohen, who assumed office as ambassador of Israel to Japan in October 2021 following a stint as deputy director general for Asia and Pacific division in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan’s consideration of recognizing a Palestinian state has been one of only a few disagreements he’s held with local politicians since arriving in Tokyo. In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, “the Japanese government stood by Israel, called for an immediate and unconditional release of our hostages and said publicly that Hamas should be dismantled,” Cohen said.

“I thank the Japanese for acknowledging that Hamas is a terrorist organization and for saying that Iran is the number one destabilizer of the region. I want to thank the Japanese government for standing on the right side of history.”

When war broke out between Israel and Hamas soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Japan, as a member of the U.N. Security Council, “was trying to influence the release of the hostages and not to [attack] Israel. They were not mediating, but there were messages Japan was trying to deliver for both sides in order to bring our hostages back,” Cohen recalled. 

Looking ahead to the postwar period, Cohen suggested that Japan will contribute to rebuilding the Palestinian economy. “We will welcome any kind of investment in the Palestinian economy to revive it,” he said. “Economy is a major part of the vision of Palestinians living side by side with Israelis in peace and security.”  

While tourism from Japan to Israel has seen a decline amid the war, Cohen said that joint business ventures between the two countries have increased over the past two years, as Israeli tech companies engage with Japan’s industrial giants and venture capital networks.

“Investments from Japanese companies in Israel were much higher in 2024 than 2023, including in AI and technology,” he said. “There is a saying that Israel can do things from zero to one and Japanese can take them from one to 10. Israeli innovation and startups can be combined with Japanese wisdom, experience and production ability that Israel doesn’t have.”

When it comes to creating cars, for example, an area that Japan is a global leader in, “Israel should focus on the brain of the car, systems that prevent accidents such as Waze and Mobileye,” said Cohen. “The synergy that we can learn from Japan — and we can share our experience with them — I see a lot of potential in economic relations. Japanese companies are looking at Israeli startups with great interest. In the last two and a half years, there have been direct flights from Israel to Japan, which is important because businessmen and investors do not have time to waste. This is an engine for connecting the people of Israel and Japan.” 

Israel is among the handful of countries that Japan has a free trade deal with, an agreement signed by Cohen in March 2023. It allows 200 Israelis to come to Japan annually on a visa for one year of work, study and travel. At the same time, 200 Japanese citizens can come to Israel for one year to do the same.

Cohen sees himself not only as an ambassador of Israel “but also as representing the Jewish people in Japan,” he said, describing a small but vibrant community. Tokyo is home to two Chabad houses and a Jewish community center, which runs a pluralistic synagogue. The cities of Kyoto and Kobe also each have a Chabad. All five centers primarily cater to tourists. 

It can be a challenge to navigate Holocaust education and antisemitism awareness in a country with limited historical exposure to those issues, Cohen said, recommending that all Japanese visit the Holocaust Education Center in Fukuyama City, near Hiroshima. 

“The Japanese government comes to commemorate our Holocaust memorial days,” Cohen told JI. “They give thanks to [Chiune] Sugihara,” he said, referring to the Japanese diplomat who, while posted in Lithuania, saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. “We are participating in ceremonies to commemorate him. In Japan, he became a hero.”

“I see a lot of potential in the future when things calm down in the region,” continued Cohen. “I would like to have future agreements signed with Japan to boost the economy on both sides. I have many things on my agenda, but this will be after Rosh Hashanah.”

China showcased its growing aggressiveness on the world stage in a major military parade on Wednesday, showing off missiles and fighter jets to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in attendance.

The parade was an example of how Beijing has used WWII not only to encourage nationalism, but to project power internationally, from Jerusalem to Taipei and beyond.

President Donald Trump pushed back against the spectacle in Beijing, writing on Truth Social that Chinese leader Xi Jinping ought to “mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that the United States of America gave to China in order to help it secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader. Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! …Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against The United States of America.” 

The parade came shortly after China hosted a summit with Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Eurasian leaders, deepening ties among major powers not aligned with the West. The attendees issued a communique last week strongly condemning “the military aggression launched by Israel and the United States against Iran” in June.

China has also used World War II and Holocaust terminology in recent weeks as it continues its hostility against Israel, calling Israel’s war a “genocide,” even as the Chinese Embassy in Israel held an event highlighting Beijing’s positioning with the Allies in World War II. 

The recent statements reflect a broader double game China has played in its relations toward Israel, consistently showing hostility to Israel on the international stage since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks, while within Israel, the Chinese ambassador has pursued a friendlier posture. 

Last month, Beijing, in a statement from the Chinese Communist Party’s Information Office, accused the U.S. of “serving as an accomplice to the genocide in Gaza.” The statement, Tuvia Gering, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said, marked the first time an official Chinese document accused Israel of genocide. 

Gering told Jewish Insider that “you see the word [genocide] being used more and more by Chinese academics, and they are the ones who help formulate China’s Middle East policy … In recent months, I have been seeing it used much more frequently, as well as other accusations against Israel and Jewish people.”

“From the beginning of the war, there have been comparisons between the Jewish state and Japanese imperialists,” Gering said. “From the Chinese perspective, [Japan] did some of the most terrible things, like what the Nazis did to us. That vile, inhumane violence is ingrained in every child in China’s psyche from a young age.” 

The Chinese consul-general in Osaka, Japan, has published posts on X over the course of the Gaza war comparing Israel to Nazis and “a demon … that will even devour a baby,” and saying “we must get rid of it once and for all.” Beijing has not apologized for the diplomat’s statements.

That being said, Gering posited that the use of the word “genocide” was unlikely to reflect a policy shift by Beijing “because of the sensitivity to how the word is being used against China” in relation to its Uyghur minority.

The genocide accusation came in response to the State Department’s report on human rights practices in China in 2024, which opened by stating that “Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred … in China against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs.” 

As such, Gering said the use of “genocide” in an official document is primarily meant to target the U.S.

Similarly, Carice Witte, founder of SIGNAL Group, a think tank focused on China-Israel relations, told JI that the statement is an example of Beijing “using Israel as a tool.”

To China, she said, “the Middle East and Israel are much more about great power competition than the local issues.” 

“Israel is a very small country that is no longer of great interest to China, and its positions on Israel are not about Israel as much as they are about China’s global interests,” Witte said. “By saying the U.S. supports genocide in Gaza, that is not about Israel, but about the U.S. and the global south. Because so many countries hate Israel, [China] believes that if they criticize Israel, more countries will support them.”

A source involved in China-Israel relations who spoke on condition of anonymity told JI they heard a Chinese diplomat say that “they use the Palestinians to make trouble for the U.S. the way the U.S. uses Taiwan to make trouble for them.”

Ten days after Beijing accused Israel of genocide, the Chinese Embassy in Israel held a ceremony marking 80 years since the end of World War II in the Pacific arena, and honoring “Jakob Rosenfeld, a Jewish doctor whose heroic contribution to the Chinese people’s fight against fascism is a lasting symbol of international solidarity,” the invitation read. 

Gering also noted that China has made diplomatic use of the fact that over 20,000 Jews escaped the Holocaust to Shanghai, including, famously, the entire Mir Yeshiva from Lithuania. They fled to an enclave in Japanese-occupied Shanghai that did not require a visa for entry, until 1941, when Japan forced the Jewish refugees into a ghetto and banned Jewish immigration to the city. The only Chinese diplomat known to have played a role in helping Jewish refugees was a representative of the Republic of China, which the Chinese Communist Party that currently rules China later defeated in a civil war.

Like many other countries, including China’s ally Russia, which also holds WWII victory parades, Beijing “employs selective historical memory,” Gering said. “There is a very obvious, explicit utilization of memory … Undermining or silencing the voices of victims of the Holocaust and refugees in Shanghai … When you listen to Chinese ambassadors, you think that there was a unique civilizational benevolence by the Chinese people, who opened their arms when the rest of the world rejected Jews … It’s a complete distortion of the story of the Jewish refugees who lived in squalid conditions.” 

Israel generally does not push back against that narrative for “political expedience,” Gering said, explaining that “it is good for soft power to say we share their sentiment of anti-fascism.” 

Witte said that China’s politicization of World War II and the Holocaust reflects a broader “two-pronged path. On the one hand, China has a big-picture policy and the Beijing stage is for the track that is harsh on Israel. Local policy, where the embassy is the stage, is the pro-Israel track.”

“Obviously, Beijing is exponentially louder, more recognized and more heard than the embassy,” she added.

Gering pointed out that Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng, who arrived at his post in December, “emphasizes friendship between Jews and Chinese people, while Chinese propaganda says Israel is committing genocide and compares Jews to Nazis.”

Xiao “has been given a mandate to act like nothing [bad] happened,” Gering added. “He even wrote an article saying not to let the war define the relationship. Even though … [the CCP] legal advisor said the Hamas attack [on Oct. 7, 2023] was A-OK, don’t split hairs, let’s talk about Chinese cars and how many Jews we saved. They’re kind of forgetting about Jews living today.” 

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Gering also expressed concerns about Beijing’s recent use of Nazi terminology to describe the government in Taiwan.

The CCP newspaper, People’s Daily, published an article that compared Taiwan’s President William Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to the Nazis. The article also described civil society groups seeking to educate Taiwanese citizens to be prepared for possible missile attacks from China and to recognize Chinese propaganda in the media as “Nazi-like.”

The article “even feigns concern for their democracy, which is ironic in a CCP mouthpiece,” Gering said.

Gering expressed concern that the language is similar to that used by Russia in the years before its invasion of Ukraine.

“The denazification card is what Putin’s Kremlin used as a pretext for its invasion and its ongoing war in Ukraine,” Gering noted. “This prompts us to ask if this is a precursor to a People’s Liberation Army [Chinese military] denazification campaign in Taiwan.”

Still, Gering said, Taiwanese politics are very divisive, and opposition politicians have also called the current government Nazis, leading to condemnation by Israeli and German diplomats in Taipei. “That gave a hechsher [kosher certification] for the CCP to use this kind of pernicious rhetoric, as well,” he said.

“In the more immediate term, it’s probably just a tactical way for the CCP to sow division and weaken the Taiwanese leadership and democratic institutions,” he added.