MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peña announces reopening of Paraguay's Embassy in Jerusalem

“We understand very well what is currently happening here,” Peña said

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña Wednesday told Israel's Parliament (known as the Knesset) in Tel Aviv that his government's decision to relocate the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem meant that the South American country “will not abandon Israel.” Peña plans to reopen the building on Thursday.

Paraguay had already moved the diplomatic mission in 2018 under President Horacio Cartes but that decision was later reversed during Mario Abdo Benítez's term.

“We are with you, we have always seen you as a sister nation. Let us hope to inspire more nations to move their embassies to Jerusalem,” Peña stressed. The Paraguayan leader also called for the “immediate” return home of all hostages still held by the terrorist organization Hamas and warned that “the enemies of Israel, cowards, will be defeated.”

“For us, for the Paraguayan people, being here means being in the place where we value things. Freedom. We have given our lives for freedom. For our independence. For our sense of belonging. So we understand very well what is currently happening here,” Peña said.

Peña also met Wednesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who celebrated the transfer of the diplomatic headquarters in a year in which Israel has “lost sons and daughters” and has “hostages in the dungeons of Gaza.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Peña a “courageous, upright, determined and proactive leader” whose decision renews a “historic friendship” between the two countries. “You chose not to stay on the sidelines. History will remember those who stood up for Israel's rights in its difficult times. We will remember and the world will remember. Because our war is also the war of all free nations,” he added.

“I thank you for your stand for the truth, to refute false and defamatory accusations hurled against Israel day after day,” the prime minister said. “The latest example is the outrageous and anti-Semitic decision by the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, and possibly later Israeli soldiers, who defend our country from its enemies,” Netanyahu underlined. “We are the ones defending ourselves against the dark forces that commit war crimes, and yet we are falsely accused of such crimes. How absurd, how shameful!”

“Fortunately, you, Santiago, stand courageously against lies and for the truth. This stance must be expressed in all international forums. I can assure you that we will continue to fight vigorously for the truth, and at the same time, we will fight vigorously against those who rise to destroy us,” Netanyahu went on.

“Israel will continue to crush the terror networks of the Iranian-led axis of evil,” the prime minister added. “We will defend our existence, secure our future, and strive to establish peaceful relations with all those who wish to live in peace with us.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met Wednesday with his Paraguayan counterpart, Ruben Ramirez, to whom he expressed his gratitude for the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem. “Paraguay is a great friend of Israel and we deeply thank Santiago Peña for the decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, our eternal capital,” the Foreign Minister said in a statement.

Israel considers Jerusalem (including its eastern part, occupied in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1980) as its sole and indivisible capital, something that most of the international community does not recognize and which exacerbates the conflict with the Palestinians.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid also welcomed Pena's decision, telling him during his speech in the Knesset that “they need his voice in the face of the injustice” that Israel is currently experiencing.

On May 21, 2018, then-President Cartes moved the Paraguayan embassy to Jerusalem, following Donald Trump's initiative from the United States. But Abdo Benítez moved it back to Tel Aviv on Sept. 5 that year in an attempt to maintain neutrality in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Knesset recently passed a bill banning the opening of new consulates in Jerusalem, thus encouraging the establishment of embassies.