Fiji is scheduled to inaugurate its embassy in Jerusalem later this month, becoming the seventh nation to have its official representation in Israel’s capital, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who first announced the decision in February, will come to Israel for the Sept. 17 opening.
Rabuka, who took office in December 2022, heads a three-party government that includes the right-wing Christian Sodelpa party, one of whose leaders’ demands was that Fiji open an embassy in Jerusalem.
“I congratulate Fiji and its Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Friend of Israel Sitiveni Rabuka, on its decision to open an embassy in Israel, in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Wednesday. “We will continue to work to open and transfer additional embassies to Jerusalem, our capital.”
Six countries currently have their embassies in Israel’s capital—the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Paraguay and Papua New Guinea.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 set the stage for other countries to follow suit, though the Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war against the terrorist group in Gaza temporarily derailed such moves.
Two years ago, Fijian Deputy Prime Minister Viliame Gavoka said in a phone interview with JNS: “Our desire to have an embassy in Jerusalem is very strong. We as a people feel very close to the descendants of Abraham and want to connect with Israel in its entirety.”
