“Simply put, President Morales stood up for what is right, despite criticism from many corners,” Ehrenberg said, adding that Morales’ decision is “another milestone” in Guatemala’s friendship with Israel and the US.
A devout evangelical Christian, Morales has prioritized reaching out to his country’s small Jewish community — about 900 Jews as of 2012, according to the Jewish Virtual Library — as well as strengthening ties to Israel. Shortly after taking office in January 2016, Morales traveled to the country’s main synagogue in Guatemala City, where he announced his intention to visit Israel, which he did later in 2016.
“I believe he [made the decision to move the embassy] because he is a believing Christian, and it is very much in his belief structure. Guatemala was the second country to recognize Israel in 1947, and the current leadership really believes that this is the way to protect Jerusalem,” Hoenlein said.
Despite being a small and largely impoverished Central American country, Guatemala has long represented an important partner for Israel. In 1947, as the nascent Jewish state struggled to gain international support for the UN Partition Plan for British Palestine, Guatemala became one of the first countries to voice support for the Jewish state’s creation.
Ehrenberg said that Guatemala “has been a true friend of Israel from the outset — it supported Israel in 1946 as a member of UNSCOP (UN Special Committee on Palestine), when the Guatemalan ambassador to the UN, Jorge Garcia Granados, recommended the formation of the state of Israel, even before the declaration in 1948.”
In 1956, Guatemala became one of the first Latin American countries to open an embassy in Jerusalem, but later relocated its mission in 1978 to the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya.
Today, as Israel is attempting to build non-traditional allies around the world, Guatemala has expressed an interest in bolstering agriculture, science, technology and security ties with the Israelis.
Hoenlein said that the visiting Jewish and Christian leaders “are committed to helping with the follow-up, and getting the message to Washington and encouraging businesspeople to look at Guatemala.”
In addition to showing support for Guatemala, a delegation of Christian leaders from LCI also visited Honduras, where they thanked President Juan Orlando Hernandez for his country’s vote against the recent UN General Assembly resolution condemning Trump’s Jerusalem moves, according to the LCI’s Bramnick.
“We thanked President Hernandez of Honduras and … encouraged him to move [his]embassy. He invited us to bring a Jewish-Christian delegation to Honduras to further discuss the issue,” said Bramnick.
“Both Guatemala and Honduras are very strong Christian nations,” Bramnick told JNS, noting that he is launching an initiative called the Latin American Jerusalem Task Force to encourage Honduras as well as other countries in the region, such as Costa Rica and Chile, to consider embassy moves.
