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News > World

Guatemala Defends 'Coherent' Decision to Move Israel Embassy

  • Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they deliver statements to the media during their meeting in Jerusalem November 29, 2016.

    Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they deliver statements to the media during their meeting in Jerusalem November 29, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 December 2017
Opinion

“What we are doing is being coherent with our foreign policy and the ally we have been for Israel,” Guatemala's foreign minister told the Associated Press.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel has defended President Jimmy Morales’ decision to relocate the Central American country’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem, slamming critics of the controversial move.

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Palestine to Fight Guatemala's 'Hostile' Move to Jerusalem

“What we are doing is being coherent with our foreign policy and the ally we have been for Israel,” Jovel told the Associated Press.

The Guatemalan official went on to say that there is no intention to reverse the move, given that “it is a foreign policy decision, and therefore sovereign.” She claimed her government is acting on its own will and not in accordance with U.S. or Israeli foreign policy, which critics have accused Morales’ administration of doing.

When asked if she thought it would affect trade with Islamic and Arab countries, she said, “It is not an issue that should really worry us too much.”

Morales announced the decision to move Guatemala’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem on Christmas Eve, less than three weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the city as Israel’s capital and announced plans to relocate the country’s embassy there.

“Today I spoke with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. We talked about the excellent relations we have had as nations since Guatemala supported the creation of the State of Israel and the main theme was the return of the Guatemalan Embassy to Jerusalem,” Morales wrote on his Facebook account.

Morales later asked Jovel to “initiate the respective coordination to make it so.”

Palestine’s Foreign Ministry immediately responded, describing Guatemala’s decision as “hostile” and “illegal.” Protesters in Gaza Strip and West Bank also denounced the Central American country’s move.

Guatemala and Honduras were the only two Latin American countries that voted against the U.N. resolution that condemned and annulled Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

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