Paraguay and Honduras will move their embassies to Jerusalem if Netanyahu visits their countries.
By: JNS.org
Following on the heels of the US and Guatemala, Paraguay and Honduras have announced that they are ready “in principle” to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to IDF Radio.
The countries have conditioned their moves on an official visit to their countries by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu visited Latin America in September, but did not stop in Paraguay. During Netanyahu’s trip, President Horacio Cartes traveled to Buenos Aires to meet with the Israeli leader.
At the recent AIPAC Policy Conference, President Jimmy Morales announced that Guatemala would move its embassy to Jerusalem “two days after the United States moves its embassy,” tentatively scheduled for May 14.
In December, following the announcement that the United States would move its embassy and officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the UN General Assembly voted to condemn America’s announcement. The nine countries to vote against the condemnation were Israel, the US, Honduras, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo. Paraguay was one of 35 countries to abstain, while another 21 did not participate in the vote.
President Milos Zeman has also expressed his desire to move the Czech Republic’s embassy to Jerusalem.
Romanian Parliament chief Liviu Dragnea stated in December that he thinks his country “should seriously consider moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. We should think about it very seriously.”
“All Israeli central institutions are in Jerusalem, and the ambassadors and embassy’s staff are commuting from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” he said, essentially echoing President Donald Trump’s reasoning about recognizing Jerusalem as Israel capital.
After the US recognition, Netanyahu expressed confidence that most European countries will follow Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“I believe that all or most of the European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem, recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and engage robustly with us for security, prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said in Brussels last Monday ahead of a meeting with all 28 foreign ministers of European Union (EU) member states.
In April 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry made a similar move to recognize “west Jerusalem” as the Israeli capital.