Guatemala to follow Trump by moving embassy in Israel to Jerusalem

Washington:  Guatemala will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May, two days after the US embassy makes the same move, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on Sunday at a conference in Washington.

“I would like to thank President Trump for leading the way. His courageous decision has encouraged us to do what is right,” Morales said in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference, according to a translation of his remarks on the pro-Israel US lobbying group’s website.

Guatemala was one of only a handful of countries that backed Trump’s December decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump’s move reversed decades of US policy, upsetting the Arab world and Western allies.

Afterward, 128 countries defied Trump by backing a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem.

Read the story in The Sydney Morning Herald (Reuters).