Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with Guatamalan President Jimmy Morales on Nov. 29, 2016. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.

JNS.org – The Guatemalan diplomatic mission in Israel and its staff entered their new embassy Tuesday afternoon for the first time, making Guatemala the first foreign country to establish its embassy in Jerusalem.

The official dedication of the facility will only occur two weeks from now, and will include Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, but the physical move was done early due to technical reasons.

The only other country to finalize its commitment to move its embassy to Jerusalem is the United States, which is scheduled to officially open its embassy on May 14, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence on the secular calendar.

The Czech Republic, Romania, Paraguay and Honduras are all in various stages of planning their embassies’ moves to Jerusalem.

Guatemala was the second country to recognize Israel as an independent state in 1948, after the United States.