Ukraine has formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and added that it will open a mission in the city over the coming months in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, its envoy to Israel announced Thursday.
Speaking at an event marking 30 years of Israel-Ukraine ties, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yehven Korniychuk said that a Jerusalem-based branch of its embassy would be inaugurated in 2022 by Zelensky. The mission would deal primarily in promoting bilateral ties in trade and technology.
Under the Trump administration, the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018 after formally declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2107. Guatemala and Kosovo then followed suit.
As Breitbart News reported:
President Joe Biden is reportedly backing down from plans to open a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem dealing specifically with Palestinians, after ruling into objections from Israel, obstacles in international law, and concerns about Iran nuclear talks.
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[T]he Israeli government objected to the opening of a consulate in its capital city aimed specifically at dealing with Palestinians, because it would amount to a diplomatic division of Jerusalem.
Under international law, including the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to which both the U.S. and Israel are parties, a country cannot open a diplomatic mission on another country’s territory without the consent of its government.
In June, Honduras moved its embassy to Jerusalem in an inauguration ceremony attended by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.
President Joe Biden has not reversed Trump’s move, but spent much of the year attempting to establish a separate Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem — a move that the administration has apparently abandoned.
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