After the government of Asunción announced that it wants to move it embassy back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the Apartheid regime retaliated and shuts down its diplomatic institution in Paraguay and recalled its ambassador for consultations.
Paraguay was officially the 3rd country to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Earlier Guatemala and the USA relocated their embassies to the disputed territory.
However Russia was the first country to open its embassy in Jerusalem, because the Russian Jewish community is simply the largest living in Israel today.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shaked hands with Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes during their meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, on May 21, 2018.
Netanyahu praised Paraguay for welcoming Jews, except they also welcomed Nazi’s and Hezbollah. Former President Horacio Cartes made the decision to move the diplomatic site to Jerusalem.
But his successor Mario Abdo Benitez, also a member of the conservative Colorado party, took office last month. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki pushed the new Paraguayan president to reverse the move, according to the Palestinian foreign ministry.
“Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said.
Al-Maliki expressed his appreciation for the Paraguayan president, saying: “The decision is in accordance with international law and Security Council decisions. It’s a breakthrough for Palestinian diplomacy vis-à-vis the international community.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to Latin American countries afterward not to move their embassies to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, describing East Jerusalem as “the capital of the Palestinian state.”
Speaking during a visit to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Abbas said most countries respect the status of East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his government was a “friend” of “Arab peoples” and that it supported “the cause of a free, independent and peaceful Palestine.”
Israel will close its embassy in Paraguay and recall its ambassador for consultations following the announcement, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Haaretz / ABC Flash Point Political News 2018.
