Amid turmoil within Moldova’s government, the country’s prime minister announced on Tuesday that the Moldovan embassy in Israel will be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the Cabinet of Minister approved the sale of the plot of land for its construction.
“Today we adopted the decision to relocate the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was a long overdue commitment to support our allies,” tweeted Pavel Filip.
Today we adopted the decision to relocate the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was a long overdue commitment to support our allies. https://t.co/LJWnXtWMOy — Pavel Filip (@filip_pavel) June 11, 2019
“We are in a situation in which we have to approve these decisions in an urgent manner, given the political instability and uncertainty in the country, as one of the political parties has been always blocking these two important decisions while trying to take over the power illegally,” said Filip in a statement.
The development came as Moldovan President Igor Dodon axed a decree for a snap parliamentary vote on Tuesday as heads of his Socialists and the pro-European Union ACUM group agree to form a governing coalition to keep Moldovan politician, businessman and philanthropist Vladimir Plahotniuc from the levers of power.
However, Plahotniuc’s Democratic Party doesn’t recognize the coalition and claims that Filip, who was prime minister prior to February’s election, is still the leader.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said on Sunday that the United States “calls on all Moldovan parties to show restraint and to agree on a path forward through political dialogue.”
Reacting to the decision, Euro-Asian Jewish Congress President Michael Mirilashvili thanked the country’s leadership saying, “We are talking of an historic decision that is going to take the bilateral relationship to a whole new level. Israelis and Jews all over the world alike will always remember Moldova as one of the first countries to move its embassy to Jerusalem. This step is a logical continuation of the Moldovan government policy of strengthening ties with the Jewish community and fighting against anti-Semitism. We congratulate the peoples of the two countries on this milestone and are happy to further promote friendly relations between Israel and Moldova.”
