The US administration has urged Paraguay to keep its embassy in Occupied Jerusalem and refrain from revoking a previous decision taken in this regard by the former president.
According to different news reports US vice president Mike Pence asked Paraguay’s new president Mario Abdo Benitez to uphold his predecessor’s decision to move the embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Paraguay on Wednesday dealt a blow to Israeli’s quest for recognition of the occupied holy city as its capital which have received some response this year when the US followed by Guatemala and Paraguay relocated embassies there.
Most countries do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire holy city.
Pence spoke on Wednesday to president Benitez who was elected on August 15 and “strongly encouraged” him to follow through with Paraguay’s commitment to move the embassy to Jerusalem “as a sign of the historic relationship the country has maintained with both Israel and the US.”
A statement from Pence’s office did not say how Benitez responded to the US vice president’s request.
Hours after Paraguay announced it would move its embassy back to Tel Aviv on Wednesday Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu responded by ordering the closure of Israel’s embassy in Paraguay.
The Paraguayan president on Wednesday defended his decision as part of an effort to support “broad lasting and just peace” between Israelis and Palestinians.
Former Paraguay president Horacio Cartes opened the new embassy in Jerusalem on May 21 just days after the US and Guatemala did.
