Honduras has committed to moving its embassy to Jerusalem by the end of the year, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Sunday night.

Israel will open an embassy in Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa, also by the end of 2020.

The announcement followed a phone conversation between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ and Honduran President Juan Hernández.

Today, with their flags flying over each other's capital cities Israel & Honduras wish to announce the intention to complete the plan of action before the end of this year with reciprocal opening and inauguration of their embassies in the national capitals Tegucigalpa & Jerusalem

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 21, 2020

“I just spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu to strengthen our strategic alliance and we agreed to open embassies in Tegucigalpa and Jerusalem respectively,” Hernández wrote on Twitter. “We hope to take this historic step before the end of the year, as long as the pandemic allows it.”

Acabo de conversar con el Primer Ministro @netanyahu para afianzar nuestra alianza estratégica y acordar la apertura de las embajadas en Tegucigalpa y Jerusalén respectivamente.
Esperamos dar este paso histórico antes de fin de año, siempre y cuando la pandemia lo permita.
🇭🇳🤝🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/V0qYceKW1N

— Juan Orlando H. (@JuanOrlandoH) September 20, 2020

Honduras is home to the second-largest Palestinian population in Latin America, second to Chile, which was assumed to be a deterrent to the transfer of its embassy to the Israeli capital city.

“They told me there’s no chance at all that Honduras will agree to move its embassy due to the large Palestinian community there,” said Mattanya Cohen, Israel’s ambassador to Honduras [and Guatemala], to Army Radio on Monday. “I didn’t give up. We began with quiet communication behind the scene – with ministers, parliament members and community members.”

Hernández has been pro-Israel for many years and voted against the UN decision in 2017 to condemn the US proposal to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Honduras recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in August 2019 and opened a trade office in Jerusalem as an expansion of its embassy in Rishon L’Tzion.

Honduras also declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization in January 2020, following in the footsteps of Argentina and Paraguay, which blacklisted Hezbollah in 2019.

To date, there are only two embassies in Jerusalem – those of the United States and Guatemala. However, a number of other countries have committed to moving their embassies to Jerusalem, including Hungary, Brazil, Romania, Moldova and Serbia and Kosovo.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)