by WorldTribune Staff, December 25, 2017

Guatemala has confirmed it will follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead and move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, after speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote to Guatemalans in a Dec. 24 post on Facebook that “one of the most important topics was the return of Guatemala’s embassy to Jerusalem,” from Tel Aviv where it is currently located.

“For this reason I am informing you that I have given instructions to the foreign ministry that it start the necessary respective coordination to make this happen,” Morales wrote.

Morales was a television celebrity with no real political experience before becoming president of Guatemala in 2016.

Guatemala’s leader made the announcement three days after two-thirds of UN member states rejected Trump’s decision to have the United States recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In all, 128 nations voted to maintain the international consensus that Jerusalem’s status can only be decided through peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

The eight countries on the U.S. side of the vote were: Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.

Morales defended his government’s vote at the UN backing the United States.

“Guatemala is historically pro-Israeli,” he said. “We have a Christian way of thinking that, as well as the politics of it, has us believing that Israel is our ally and we must support it. Despite us only being nine in the world (in the UN vote), we have the total certainty and conviction that this is the right path.”

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