Netanyahu: Equatorial Guinea plans to move embassy to Jerusalem

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo addresses the 72nd Session of the United Nations General assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept. 21, 2017. (Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images)

(JTA) — Equatorial Guinea is the latest country that plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The pledge came in a conversation Friday with the oil-rich African nation’s president, Teodoro Mbasogo, Netanyahu’s office said.

Netanyahu has throughout his 11 years in continuous leadership pressed for greater Israeli engagement with Africa. Netanyahu “noted that Israel is continuing to deepen its cooperation with African countries and said that Israel is returning to Africa and Africa is returning to Israel in a big way,” his office’s statement said.

The United States and Guatemala have moved their embassies to Jerusalem since 2018, and about half a dozen other countries have pledged to do so as part of a diplomatic initiative launched by former President Donald Trump.

A handful of nations had embassies in Jerusalem until the early 1980s; most keep embassies in Tel Aviv, not recognizing Israel’s claim to the city until its status is resolved in a peace deal with the Palestinians.

BY RON KAMPEAS

21/02/2021 by JTA

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