From Herzog welcomes Paraguayan President Peña ahead of opening of new Jerusalem embassy
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
President Isaac Herzog welcomes Paraguayan President Santiago Peña at his official residence in Jerusalem, as part of a state visit that will see the inauguration of the South American nation’s new embassy in Jerusalem.
“It means a lot to the people of Israel, the fact that you’re coming here after a year when the Israeli public, the Israeli people, the Israeli nation has gone through a most challenging time — painful, agonizing,” Herzog tells Peña.
“We are very excited that you will inaugurate the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem, our holy city, united city, the eternal capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” he continues, expressing his hope that the visit “will bring a message of peace and a bright future.”
In response, Peña calls the visit a “tipping point in our own history,” and states that it constitutes “a moral obligation that the Paraguayan people have asked us to do, and we feel that we are bringing the heart and feeling of more than six million Paraguayans that they feel so close or attached to the people of Israel.
“This is important for us coming here and opening the embassy as a symbol, because this symbolizes something that is much larger, which is our friendship and the faith that we have on a brighter future, and we all deserve to have a brighter future,” he says.
Most countries do not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and base their embassies in Tel Aviv, often opening smaller consulates in Jerusalem.
Currently, five countries — the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea — have embassies in Jerusalem.
In 2018, Paraguay’s outgoing president Horacio Cartes announced that his country would open an embassy in Jerusalem, following similar moves by the US and Guatemala. But the embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv by Cartes’s successor Abdo Benitez after just five months. Benitez said he had not been consulted in the original decision and indicated that it harmed efforts to maintain a more neutral approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Peña, who came into office last year, decided to reopen the Jerusalem mission.
The Times of Israel Community.