GUATEMALA TO ANNOUNCES RELOCATION OF ITS EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM

Guatemala has decided to follow USA decision its announcing plans to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv.

Following a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, the President of Guatemala, Jimmy Morales, announced his decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.

“We talked about the excellent relations we have had as nations since Guatemala supported the creation of the State of Israel,” the president said in a Facebook post, stressing that one of the most relevant issues “was the return of the Guatemalan Embassy to Jerusalem.”

“I inform you that I have given instructions to the Chancellor to initiate the respective coordination” to move the embassy, Morales said in his brief post, without stating whether or not the country recognizes Jerusalem as the state capital.

The Central American country was one of just nine states to support the US decision during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote this week. On Thursday, the UNGA overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution condemning Donald Trump’s declaration to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and called on member states not to move their diplomatic missions to the Holy City. The non-binding UNGA resolution was backed by 128 states, while 35 countries abstained. Guatemala, Honduras, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo, the US and Israel voted in favor of the US decision. The UNGA vote followed the US veto of a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution Monday. All other UNSC members voted in favor of a motion to rescind President Donald Trump’s decision.