JERUSALEM: The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, joining a small group of countries taking the symbolic step of backing Israeli sovereignty in the contested city.
“We see opening an embassy here in Jerusalem not only as a strengthening of our ties with Israel, but also as a message to the world of where we stand,” said Nauru’s vice president and foreign minister Lionel Aingimea.
Most countries have kept their embassies in Tel Aviv on the grounds that the status of Jerusalem will be settled in a final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
President Donald Trump shattered that consensus in 2018 during his first term by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, which is home to Israel’s parliament, prime minister and most other major governmental institutions.
Since Trump’s move, only a handful of small, US-aligned countries have followed suit: Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay.
Kosovo and Somaliland, which are not member-states of the United Nations, have also opened what they consider their embassies in Jerusalem.
At Monday’s inauguration ceremony, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called Nauru “one of Israel’s greatest friends.”
He said other countries would soon follow Nauru in opening embassies in Jerusalem, noting that Colombia was expected to do so in early October.
Bogota has yet to confirm a date, but Colombia’s new hard-right President Abelardo de la Espriella announced such a move in July.
The Democratic Republic of Congo said last week it would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Argentine President Javier Milei, an outspoken supporter of Israel, has also promised to move his country’s embassy to the holy city.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem and annexed it in 1967, in a move not recognized by the vast majority of the international community.
