Santiago Peña, the president of Paraguay, will travel to Israel next week to attend the reopening of the South American country’s embassy in Jerusalem, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said on Tuesday.
The delegation will also include the speaker of Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Luís Latorre Martinez, and other senior officials.
Peña is scheduled to address the parliament on the morning of Dec. 11, followed by a Knesset ceremony with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
The reopening of Paraguayan’s diplomatic mission will take place the next day at the Har Hotzvim industrial park in northwestern Jerusalem.
“About three months ago, I had the honor of inaugurating the Israeli embassy in Paraguay,” Ohana said in comments cited by Hebrew media. “In a moving ceremony, we affixed the mezuzah from the house where Sivan Elkabetz and Naor Hasidim were murdered on Oct. 7 [2023].”
“Next week, we will close a circle. Paraguay’s president will inaugurate the embassy in Jerusalem. Shimon, Sivan’s father; Avi, Naor’s father; and Elhanan Danino—the father of Uri, who was kidnapped from the Nova party and was murdered—will attend,” stated the lawmaker.
“Avi and Elhanan joined me on my recent visit to Paraguay, and like me, they felt the president’s embracing and sympathetic attitude towards the State of Israel and support for its existential struggle,” he concluded.
The embassy move, which had been planned before the start of the war against Hamas, is a diplomatic boon for Israel at a time when it has faced opprobrium over the conflict triggered by the Oct. 7 assault.
Paraguay first moved its embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, following then-President Donald Trump’s lead. It became the third country to do so after the United States and Guatemala. However, months later, the mission was returned to Tel Aviv, setting off a diplomatic crisis.
During his campaign last year, Peña pledged to return the embassy to Jerusalem. “The State of Israel recognizes Jerusalem as its capital. The seat of the parliament is in Jerusalem, the president is in Jerusalem. So who are we to question where they establish their own capital?” he said.
Ohana inaugurated Israel’s reopened embassy in Asunción on Sept. 18. The two parliaments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation, and Martinez gave Ohana a top congressional award.
Landlocked Paraguay has a long history of friendship with Israel, dating back to its vote for the establishment of the Jewish state at the United Nations.
Trump’s landmark decision in 2018 set the stage for other countries to follow suit in the following years, with additional nations expected to make similar announcements after a delay caused by the Hamas war.
Five countries currently have their embassies in Israel’s capital: the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo and Papua New Guinea. All of the other countries that have ties with Israel maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv or the Tel Aviv-area suburbs due to the political sensitivities over the city that is holy to multiple religions.
