TV report: Honduran ex-president asked Israel to help prevent his arrest

According to a TV report, former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández claimed that Israel promised to help him if he was arrested in the future.

Police arrested Hernández at his home yesterday, following a request by the United States government for his extradition on drug trafficking and weapons charges. The arrest came less than three weeks after Hernández left office and followed years of allegations by US prosecutors of his alleged links to drug traffickers.

Channel 12 news reports that Hernández, who visited Israel in June 2021 — just after the new government was established — to open the Honduran Embassy in Jerusalem, told Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that the previous administration had promised him such aid.

Hernández reportedly also made a similar request of Israeli officials when the Israeli Embassy was inaugurated in the country’s capital later last year.

AP contributed to this report.