Paraguay, Honduras to open embassies in Jerusalem

Paraguay and Honduras have said that they are ready to open their embassies in Jerusalem, a senior Israeli diplomatic source told the Israeli army radio on Sunday.

According to Quds Press the senior source said that the two countries are ready “in principle” to open embassies in Jerusalem if the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first makes an official visit to their countries.

Honduras voted against the UN resolution which condemned the US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but Paraguay abstained.

US envoy to the US Niki Haley visited Honduras and commended its vote against the US decision. The US threatened to cut aid to the countries which voted against its decision at the UN.

Read: Will Israeli policies change if Netanyahu leaves office?

Last week Guatemala said it would move its embassy to Jerusalem in May. “In May of this year, we will celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary… Guatemala will return and permanently move its embassy to Jerusalem,” President Jimmy Morales told the AIPAC annual conference held in Washington.

President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman has said that moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a top priority and he wanted to speed up the process, but the Czech foreign minister rejected this.

On 6 December 2017 Trump unilaterally recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital despite the fact that the international community recognises occupied Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.