Honduras to open embassy in Jerusalem this month
Tegucigalpa (QNN)- Honduras will open an embassy in Jerusalem this month, its president announced on Thursday, in a bid to build closer ties with the occupation state of ‘Israel’.
‘Israel’ is set to open a diplomatic office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras’s capital city, in response, after opening a temporary representative office in the Honduran capital last August.
“We are going to formalize what we have already carried out step by step, which is the installation of our embassy in Jerusalem,” President Juan Orlando Hernandez said.
He added that the move “will empower us on the agricultural side, in the field of innovation and in the field of tourism.”
“In three weeks, I will mark the 30th anniversary of my first visit, returning to inaugurate the Embassy of Honduras in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel,” Hernandez wrote on Twitter.
In three weeks, I will mark the 30th anniversary of my first visit by returning to inaugurate the Embassy of Honduras in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel. pic.twitter.com/mr8xXKLsiP
— Juan Orlando H. (@JuanOrlandoH) June 4, 2021
In 2018, outgoing President Donald Trump moved the US embassy to ‘Israel’ from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.
Honduras recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in August 2019.
Guatemala also opened embassy in Jerusalem in 2018, and Kosovo has lately become the third country to do so in 2021.
The European Union has always urged its member states not to open an embassy in Jerusalem, because under international law, Jerusalem is a contested city, with East Jerusalem officially considered to be occupied by ‘Israel.’
“The EU’s position on relocating embassies to Jerusalem is clear. All the embassies of the EU member states, as well as the EU Delegation to Israel, are located in Tel Aviv,” EU says.
