Paraguay Opens Embassy in Jerusalem, Showing Support for Israel

President Santiago Peña of Paraguay opened his country’s embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, traveling to Israel to do so and receiving a hero’s welcome as he showed support for Israel in the midst of ongoing war and isolation.

Paraguay is among a handful of countries that followed the American example and moved their embassies from the coastal city of Tel Aviv to the actual capital of the country in Jerusalem. President Donald Trump moved the U.S. embassy there in 2018, after recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, welcomed Peña, and the two of them made statements prior to their meeting (via Israel’s Government Press Office):

President Herzog said: “We are very honored to have you, your wife, and your delegation in Israel. It means a lot to the people of Israel, the fact that you’re coming here after a year when the Israeli public, the Israeli people, the Israeli nation has gone through a most challenging time, painful, agonizing. We lost sons and daughters. We have hostages in the dungeons of Gaza. We yearn. We operate. We call on the entire family of nations to do whatever it takes to bring them back home. But the friendship that you are radiating to the people of Israel, to the nation of Israel, to the entire vista of beautiful Israel, means the world to us. We know that Paraguay will always be with us.”

He added, “We are very excited that you will inaugurate the Paraguayan Embassy in Jerusalem, our holy city, united city, the eternal capital of the state of Israel and the Jewish people. And we are also very much appreciative of the fact that together, we are fighting antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and all forms of hatred which are the worst disease of humankind. I hope your visit will bring a message of peace and a bright future, and I welcome your delegation. I hope that it will be a very successful visit in all fields that will enhance the relations between our nations.”

President Pena thanked him and said: “This is a very large and diverse delegation, bringing people representing the people of Paraguay at Congress. I understand that this could be seen as a signal of support to Israel in this difficult moment. But believe me, Mr. President, this is something that we needed to do for ourselves. This is a moral obligation that the Paraguayan people have asked us to do, and we feel that we are bringing the heart and feeling of more than six million Paraguayans that they feel so close or attached to the people of Israel. So for us, this is really a tipping point in our own history.”

He added, “We have developed this sense of hope and friendship and standing next to our friends, that’s why for us, despite this being a signal of support to Israel, this is a testament of who we are. This is important for us coming here and opening the embassy as a symbol, because this symbolizes something that is much larger, which is our friendship and the faith that we have on a brighter future, and we all deserve to have a brighter future. This visit is very important for the Paraguayan people. I’m sure that many people from Israel, and outside of Israel are looking at this visit, I can assure you that all Paraguayans are following this visit, the same way, and with the same passion. Thank you very much.”

In addition to Paraguay and the U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea each have their embassies in Jerusalem. All of them have moved their embassies to the Israeli capital in the past few years.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer welcomed Peña’s arrival in Israel, which came as the Israeli military continued to destroy Syrian weapons stockpiles in the wake of the ouster of Bashar al-Assad by rebels on Sunday.

Mencer said Israel was doing so “for the sole purpose of preventing them from falling into the hands of terrorists. The new leadership in Syria does not need chemical weapons.” He added that Israel would not allow Iran to reestablish its military presence in Syria or to use Syria again as a conduit to supply weapons to its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.