In the fall of 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to travel to Beijing for what was expected to be an upbeat meeting with President Xi Jinping on October 20th. Of course, Netanyahu never made that trip due to the attack by Hamas terrorists on civilian populations in southern Israel on October 7th.

That positive vibe that propelled Sino-Israeli relations before October 2023 quickly gave way to an icy chill in the aftermath of Hamas’ assault. Israelis fumed that it took almost a week for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to to respond to what happened and then for much of the rest of the year that followed, Chinese authorities went out of their way to avoid describing the attack that killed 1,195 people, including 815 civilians, as “terrorism.”