Paraguay to reopen embassy in Jerusalem next week, Knesset speaker announces

Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña will fulfill a campaign promise next week and reopen the country’s embassy in Jerusalem, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announces.

Peña will address the Knesset on Wednesday morning next week, followed by a special Knesset ceremony with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Ohana and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

The official opening of the embassy will take place the following Thursday in Har Hotzvim in the capital.

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 after just five months by Cartes’s successor Abdo Benitez, who said he hadn’t been consulted in the original decision and indicated that it harmed efforts to maintain a more neutral approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu fumed at the decision and moved to have Israel’s embassy in Asunción closed in retaliation.

In September, Israel reopened its embassy in Paraguay.