Paraguayan President Santiago Peña reopened the Paraguayan embassy on Har Hotzvim in Jerusalem Thursday, six years after it was moved to Tel Aviv. The opening ceremony of the new embassy was attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion. "I was saddened that it was closed," Peña said, "and I am very happy that it is happening now."
After the embassy opening event, Netanyahu held a private meeting with Peña in his office, during which the president invited the prime minister to visit Paraguay. From there, the two continued on to a reception at the Foreign Ministry, during which a signing ceremony was held for several memoranda of understanding and bilateral agreements.
Peña said that it was a great privilege for him to make the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña in Jerusalem
(Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP)
"I was very happy to see that during the time that I was minister of finance, the government of Paraguay took a very bold decision, a very ambitious decision to open the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem," he said. "I was very sad a couple months later when a new administration, driven mostly by revenge, an internal revenge, nothing to do with the people of Israel, decided to move it back. I am very happy that this is taking place in this very moment that the world is living, where a lot of people talk but not many people act. For us, not only saying but doing is very important."
Netanyahu acknowledged the appeal. "You recognize the truth here: Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. It will always be Israel’s capital. It will be the undivided capital of Israel; it will never change. This is a fact and you recognize it and we recognize the fact that you speak out and stand up for that because of the common values," the prime minister said.
The story of Israel is a parable for all nations. Because if the Jewish people were able to not merely survive but to ford the torrential river between annihilation and salvation, to reconstitute our life here, to rebuild our capital, to be a thriving power and a thriving innovator for humanity. This means that there is hope for all nations of the world."
Paraguay is the sixth country to open an embassy in Jerusalem after the U.S., Guatemala, Kosovo, Honduras and Papua New Guinea. Israel hopes that Argentina will be the seventh country to move its embassy to the capital, and Argentine President Javier Milei, who is considered an Israel-lover, is expected to visit next month, where he will reiterate his promise to move the embassy.
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The Paraguayan embassy had already opened in Jerusalem in 2018, after the U.S. moved its embassy to the capital, and it was then the third embassy to open in the city. Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes, who was a friend of Israel, came to Jerusalem to inaugurate the embassy in a festive ceremony and was even invited a year later by Netanyahu to the torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl.
But four months later, a new left-wing president, Abdo Benitez, was elected to lead Paraguay and he reversed his predecessor's decision, claiming that "Paraguay wants to contribute to increasing regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East." Israel was outraged by the decision, and Netanyahu ordered the Israeli ambassador to the capital, Asuncion, to be recalled for consultations, and ordered the Israeli embassy to be closed.
In August last year, following Peña's victory in the elections, he announced that Paraguay would move its embassy "this year" to Jerusalem, and Israel also reopened its embassy in Asuncion.