Hungary will be the first EU member state to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced during a visit to Budapest on Wednesday.
“Hungary supports us in the international arena,” Cohen said, speaking at a Chabad synagogue. “More good news…is that in a number of weeks, Hungary will be the first EU state to announce that it is moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
“This is great news for Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years,” he added.
Hungarian Ambassador to Israel Levente Benkö said: “Hungary has been operating a trade office in Jerusalem since 2019 and there has been no decision on further steps so far.”
Netanyahu, Paraguayan leader talk on planned embassy move
Paraguay’s newly elected president also said he plans to move his country’s embassy back to Jerusalem when he enters office in August. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called president-elect Santiago Pena to congratulate him on his victory and praised his plan to move the embassy.
Asunción moved its embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 and returned it to Tel Aviv four months later. In response, Israel closed its embassy in Paraguay.
The US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, in 2018. There are currently three other embassies in the capital as well: Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo. Ten countries have diplomatic offices in Jerusalem, and several countries promised to move their embassies since 2018, most of which are in Africa, like Malawi, Togo and Uganda.
Hungarian foreign minister agrees to petition against Palestinian 'pay-for-slay'
Also during Cohen’s visit to Budapest, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto agreed to petition the International Court of Justice against the Palestinian Authority’s “pay for slay” practice, of paying terrorists who attack Israelis.
“Hungary has stood with Israel for years,” Cohen said. “Strengthening the pro-Israel front, together with additional Central European states, is an important diplomatic and economic interest of Israel.”
Cohen stopped in Hungary as part of his trip to four countries in Central Europe: Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. He met those countries’ foreign ministers, as well as Czechia’s this week.