Tel Aviv : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that the Jewish state recognizes South Sudan and wished the world's newest nation "much success."
"Yesterday, a new state was born, South Sudan. I hereby announce that Israel recognizes the Republic of South Sudan," he said. "We wish it much success."
He called the new nation a "peace-seeking country" and said Israel "would be pleased to cooperate with it in order to ensure its development and its prosperity."
Netanyahu's statement suggested the Jewish state would seek to establish diplomatic ties with the government in Juba. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Sudan, and has accused Khartoum of serving as a base for militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
In April, Khartoum accused Israel of carrying out an air strike on its Red Sea coast that killed two people and destroyed the car they were traveling in.
Israel refused to comment on the incident, but its officials have expressed concern about arms smuggling through Sudan, and the attack mirrored a similar strike by foreign aircraft on a truck convoy reportedly laden with weapons in eastern Sudan in January 2009.
Israel's ties with the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the rebel movement that won South Sudan's independence, have reportedly been much friendlier.
The Jewish state was widely reported to have provided arms to the SPLA in the 22-year civil war it fought with Khartoum, although neither side publicly acknowledged weapons transfers.
South Sudan's independence came exactly six months after southerners voted almost unanimously to split with their former civil war enemies in the north.
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