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US puts pressure on Paraguay to keep embassy in Jerusalem

September 8, 2018 at 1:29 pm

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [right] meets with the then Paraguan President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, at the Israeli Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on July 19, 2016 [AA]

US Vice President Mike Pence has asked new Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez to keep his country’s embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, international media have reported. The decision to move to the Holy City was made by Benitez’s predecessor in defiance of international law, which regards Jerusalem as occupied territory.

On Wednesday, Paraguay announced that it is moving its embassy back to Tel Aviv after it had relocated it to Jerusalem following to President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy.

The New York Times described the Paraguayan move as “a blow to Israeli’s quest for recognition of Jerusalem as its capital, which appeared to have gained some traction this year when the United States, followed by Guatemala and Paraguay, relocated embassies there.”

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Pence “strongly encouraged” the Paraguayan President to maintain his country’s embassy in Jerusalem “as a sign of the historic relationship the country has maintained with both Israel and the United States.”

Just hours after Benitez’s decision to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the closure of his country’s embassy in the capital of Paraguay, Asunción.