{"id":149703,"date":"2026-06-07T19:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T19:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/149703\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T19:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T19:56:15","slug":"ambassador-marks-mark-72-years-of-thai-israeli-relations-with-zoo-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/149703\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambassador marks mark 72 years of Thai-Israeli relations with zoo visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Israel and Thailand mark 72 years of diplomatic relations, the Thai Ambassador, Boonyarit Vichienpuntu<\/a>, led a group of Thai workers and a representative of the Foreign Ministry to Jerusalem\u2019s Tisch Family Zoological Gardens to meet the elephants there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Thai elephant is very important. They are in the heart of the Thai people. They are the symbols of living diplomacy, the good relations between Thailand and Israel,\u201d Vichienpuntu told The Jerusalem Post during the visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elephant is part of our people-to-people relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The elephants, which were gifted by the Kingdom of Thailand<\/a> to Israel in 1994 following a personal request of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, represent the friendship between the two nations, he said.<\/p>\n

The four original elephants \u2013 Kwanjai, Oraphan, Panyanucha, and Sunisa \u2013 were all female. Today, there are three females, and one male elephant. Along with the group led by the ambassador, staff members from the Post went inside their enclosure.<\/p>\n

The ambassador and other Thai officials visit the elephants<\/a> regularly to ensure they are well looked after and in good health. The zoo\u2019s elephant keepers told the Post that they speak to the elephants in Thai to give them a connection to their country of origin.<\/p>\n

\"ThaiThai ambassador to Israel, Boonyarit Vichienpuntu, at Jerusalem\u2019s Tisch Family Zoological Gardens. June 4, 2026. (credit: MATHILDA HELLER)Vichienpuntu: Everyone, confident, committed to blossoming Israel-Thailand relationship<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is confident and committed to the growing and blossoming relationship between our two countries,\u201d Vichienpuntu told the Post, standing in front of the elephant enclosure.<\/p>\n

He noted that Israel and Thailand cooperate across several different fields. One of these, he said, is agriculture, and he pointed to Thailand\u2019s implementation of Israeli irrigation technology.<\/p>\n

Vichienpuntu said Israel is the ideal partner in science, technology, innovation, and start-ups.<\/p>\n

Next week, the vice president of the Weizmann Institute of Science will travel to Thailand to discuss quantum AI technologies. Israeli businesses, though, face boycotts from movements like Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.<\/p>\n

Israeli businesses, though, face boycotts from movements like BDS.\u00a0Asked if he was concerned that Thailand may also face such treatment if it advances its partnership with Israel, Vichienpuntu dismissed the notion, saying that such efforts would do little to hurt the kingdom economically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t see any obstacles. Our main trading partners are still the Americans and the Chinese. I don\u2019t see these two countries having any problem with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the contrary, Israel and Thailand are pushing for closer ties, and this year, for the first time ever, the Thai Festival will take place in Israel. The event is set to be held at a venue outside of Tel Aviv, joining a select list of municipalities that host Thai festivals, including London, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThailand is now selling our soft power,\u201d Vichienpuntu said. \u201cYou like Thai food, Thai massage, Muay Thai, everything. This is soft power. So the Thai festival is an international platform to serve this idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attention is not one-sided. According to data from the PassportCard index in late 2025, Thailand is the most visited destination by Israeli travelers. There are also about 65,000 Thai people living and working in Israel.<\/p>\n

\"ThaiThai ambassador to Israel, Boonyarit Vichienpuntu, at Jerusalem\u2019s Tisch Family Zoological Gardens. June 4, 2026. (credit: MATHILDA HELLER)<\/p>\n

After October 7, Israel suspended the work licenses of over 100,000 Palestinians, leaving a large gap in manpower in industries such as food and agriculture. The ambassador told the Post that many of these jobs have since been filled by Thai workers, as well as those from India and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

The Hamas-led attacks of October 7, which resulted in the murder of some 1,200 people and the abduction of over 250 others, left a wound in Israel that was shared by Thailand, Vichienpuntu indicated, noting that many Thai nationals were killed that day.<\/p>\n

Some 42 Thai workers were murdered in southern Israel during the massacres. Among those was Sudthisak Rinthalak<\/a>, whose remains were kidnapped into Gaza. He was among the last to be returned from Hamas captivity late last year.<\/p>\n

For Vichienpuntu, though, despite the toll shared by his country, the attacks failed to diminish the friendship between the countries. Rather, he envisioned the relationship between Israel and Thailand would continue to grow on pillars of shared love and benefit.<\/p>\n

On the personal side, he said Israeli society had a deep love of visiting Thailand because, in his view, Thailand exemplifies hospitality and is happy to receive Israelis as \u201cour friends, our members of family.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the economic side, he added the two nations were engaging in a \u201ccooperation for humanity and sustainability\u201d and that Thailand was eager to share in Israel\u2019s technological, industrial, and agricultural prowess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Israel and Thailand mark 72 years of diplomatic relations, the Thai Ambassador, Boonyarit Vichienpuntu, led a group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[1011,488,989,41955,37,48312,7890,18886],"class_list":["post-149703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-agriculture","tag-asia","tag-diplomacy","tag-elephants","tag-israel","tag-jerusalem-zoo","tag-thailand","tag-yitzhak-rabin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116710590805015103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}