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Israel prepares $14m plan to help foreign embassies move to Jerusalem

July 29, 2019 at 9:29 am

President of Guatemala and Mayor of Jerusalem at the opening of the Embassy of Guatemala in Jerusalem [Mayor Nir Barkat/Twitter]

Israel’s Foreign Ministry is preparing a plan worth 50 million shekels ($14.2m) to help countries move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel Hayom reported yesterday.

Described as a “national diplomatic and strategic goal of the first order”, the plan’s implementation is important to encourage countries to move their embassies to Jerusalem, the newspaper said.

It is set to be presented to the cabinet for a vote in the coming weeks, Israel Hayom continued.

It comes as the Foreign Ministry found that a number of countries would be willing to move their embassies in exchange for development assistance or help improving their relations with the US.

Other countries, the report said, such as Honduras and El Salvador, which agreed to open embassies in Jerusalem, asked Israel to open embassies in their capitals in return.

Speaking to the newspaper, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Israel’s sovereignty “must” be reinforced in Jerusalem, noting that the goals set by moving the US and Guatemalan embassies to Jerusalem have not been achieved.

He also said that many countries had promised to relocate their embassies, but they have yet to do so.

READ: Israel to build ‘Embassy Quarter’ in occupied Jerusalem