Thirty-two countries attend US ceremony to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, says Israel’s foreign ministry.
The United States has formally opened its embassy in Jerusalem amid deadly protests in the Gaza Strip.
The move on Monday followed a December 2017 decision by US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the US mission there from Tel Aviv.
Trump’s controversial declaration was widely condemned by the international community, with the United Nations General Assembly rejecting by a huge majority the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Israel’s foreign ministry said all 86 countries with diplomatic missions in Israel were invited to the embassy opening, and 33 confirmed attendance. However, the Nigerian and Thai representatives did not attend.Most countries say the status of Jerusalem – a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians – should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would pre-judge any such deal.
Here is a breakdown of the countries that attended the ceremony:
A: Albania, Angola, Austria
C: Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Czech Republic
D: Dominican Republic
E: El Salvador, Ethiopia
G: Georgia, Guatemala
H: Honduras, Hungary
K: Kenya
M: Myanmar, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
P: Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines
R: Romania, Rwanda
S: Serbia, South Sudan
T: Tanzania
U: Ukraine
V: Vietnam
Z: Zambia
SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies
The 21st Century
You mean to say Australia was not there? How can this be? They were the ONLY other that supported the US in blocking the UN investigation into the slaughter of innocent Palestinians recently! They must have had other prior urgent things to do, like getting their hair done and the hairs removed from their big noses!