Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured pledges from both the Congo and Paraguay to open embassies in Jerusalem during his weeklong visit to the United States."We've just had very productive talks with the president of Congo, and we agreed that Israel will open an embassy in Kinshasa and Congo will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Netanyahu and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in a joint statement they released on Thursday.“These are two good announcements and I think they reflect our common desire to upgrade our relations,” they said.The two men met on the sidelines of the high-level portion of the opening session of the 78th UN General Assembly.Israel is pressing its allies to relocate their embassies to Jerusalem to shore up the city’s standing as the capital of the Jewish state. Most countries have refused to recognize that Jerusalem is the country’s capital.
Why is the move to Jerusalem a big deal?
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem is the capital of a future Palestinian state. Many countries, however, refuse to even recognize that west Jerusalem is within sovereign Israel.To date, only five countries have opened Jerusalem embassies: the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo and Papa New Guinea.In August Foreign Minister Eli Cohen secured a pledge from Paraguay to reopen its Jerusalem embassy. It had already placed its embassy in Jerusalem after the US lead in relocating its embassy to Jerusalem in 2017.It then closed the embassy and relocated it to Tel Aviv, a move that caused Israel to close its embassy in the country’s capital of Asuncion.Paraguayan President Santiago Peña confirmed that his country would return its embassy to Jerusalem by the end of the year in a meeting he held with Netanyahu on Tuesday. Israel in turn will reopen its embassy in Asuncion.
The issue of new Israeli embassies came up in a meeting Netanyahu had with leaders from the Pacific region, including the countries of Palau, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.
Nauru President Russ Kun and Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka both promised to open embassies in Israel.Netanyahu thanked the Pacific region leaders for the strong support of Israel at the UN, where they often stand in solidarity with Israel rejecting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel resolutions. "You've been wonderful friends of Israel. Israel is your friend. We have so much in common,” Netanyahu told them. He that Israel would help them combat climate change, a problem their countries are particularly vulnerable to.
Netanyahu's meetings at the United Nations
While at the UN, Netanyahu also met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the presidents Joe Biden of the US, Recap Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.On Wednesday Netanyahu also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, emphasizing the two countries were also technological democracies and inviting him to visit Israel.Netanyahu also held face-to-face meetings with Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir where they spoke of ways to increase cooperation in agriculture technology to better preserve food security. He also invited both men to visit Israel.
