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Minister: Paraguay decision to return embassy to Tel Aviv ‘final’

October 3, 2018 at 9:16 am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [right] meets with the then Paraguan President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, at the Israeli Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on July 19, 2016 [AA]

Paraguay Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said his country’s decision to move its embassy back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem is a “closed issue” noting that the decision was made in accordance with international law.

“This is a state decision and a government decision. According to the constitution the government is responsible for its international relations,” Israel’s Maariv newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

Earlier this month, Paraguay announced that it will return its embassy in Israel to Tel Aviv after moving it to Jerusalem in May.

The government of the new President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in mid-August, said in a statement that it had taken this decision “to contribute to regional and international diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East”.

In response to Paraguay’s decision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu closed the Israeli embassy in Paraguay and recalled the ambassador.

READ: Just months after moving its embassy to Jerusalem Paraguay returns to Tel Aviv, Israel withdraws representation