Guatemala opens embassy in Jerusalem

16 May, 2018 09:30 / Updated 6 years ago

Guatemala opened an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, two days after the US inaugurated its new site in the contested city. Washington’s move has infuriated Palestinians and drew international condemnation. Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the embassy’s opening on Wednesday in an office complex in west Jerusalem, Reuters reports. “You were the second country to recognize Israel,” Netanyahu said at the ceremony, referring to its founding in 1948. Guatemala was one of only a few nations that backed US President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and it is only the second country to move its embassy to the holy city. Paraguay has said it will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the end of May.