Paraguay moves its Israel embassy back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem
Paraguay’s government says it is moving its embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem and back to Tel Aviv, less than four months after opening the new mission.
Foreign Minister Luis Castiglioni announced on Wednesday that his government had decided to take the action immediately.
This year Horacio Cartes, who was president at the time, made Paraguay only the third country to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem, opening the mission on May 21.
But President Mario Benitez, who took office last month, opposed it.
Mr Benitez, whose father is of Lebanese descent, decided to return the embassy to Tel Aviv “to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East”.
In response to the move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the closure of his country’s embassy in Paraguay.
A statement from Mr Netanyahu’s office said the decision was because Paraguay’s U-turn had cast a shadow on relations between the countries.
A delighted Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Paraguay had pledged to return the embassy two weeks ago during a visit by Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki.
Mr Al Maliki had pushed Mr Benitez to return his country’s embassy to Tel Aviv, the ministry said on Wednesday.
It welcomed the announcement as “a new Palestinian diplomatic achievement”.
It said “Minister Maliki exerted a big effort during his meeting with the new president, who instructed his foreign minister to arrange the issue”.