For a price, Honduras says it’s willing to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to a report broadcast Sunday evening by Israel’s Channel 2 television news. But there’s a catch.
A senior diplomatic team from Honduras has met in Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem about the issue, and according to the report, expressed its government’s willingness to make the move.
However, Honduras expects Israel to reciprocate with its own changes – for a start, to upgrade its diplomatic mission in Honduras to a full embassy – plus provide technical assistance to Honduras, and tighten economic ties between the two countries. A move by Israel from consulate to full embassy would cost an estimated $1 million annually.
A non-binding resolution was passed last April by lawmakers in the Central American nation, backing the embassy move to Jerusalem and calling on President Juan Orlando Hernandez to follow the United States and Guatemala in their moves, planned at that point for May – and subsequently carried out.
The Hernandez administration has, in fact, drawn up a plan to undertake the move of the Embassy of Honduras; a prospective site in Jerusalem has also been chosen.