Papua New Guinea to Open Jerusalem Embassy 

Latest Developments 

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister will visit Israel next week to open an embassy in Jerusalem, a spokesperson for his office said on August 28. The inauguration, tentatively scheduled for September 5, will make Papua New Guinea the fifth country with an embassy in the Israeli capital. The Pacific island country, whose population is overwhelmingly Christian and where pro-Israel sentiment is widespread, previously had a consulate in Tel Aviv. Its prime minister, James Marape, is due to officiate at the opening alongside his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Israel has no immediate plans to open an embassy in Port Moresby. Its outreach to Papua New Guinea is handled by its ambassador to the Pacific island states, Roi Rosenblit. In 2018, the United States, under then President Donald Trump, moved its Israel embassy to Jerusalem in accordance with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. Guatemala, Honduras, and Kosovo also have embassies in the city. Among countries that may soon follow suit are Fiji, Sierra Leone, and Paraguay. 

Expert Analysis 

“Since President Trump’s bold embassy move, Israel has sought to keep up the momentum of concrete international recognition of Jerusalem as its undisputed capital. Papua New Guinea’s embassy opening will be a welcome reprieve for Israel, given the enormous challenges the Netanyahu government is facing on other diplomatic fronts.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO 

“The Jewish people have three thousand years of history in Jerusalem. President Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in a decision that corrected decades of bad policy. Papua New Guinea is the most recent country to join the United States and right a historical wrong. The Netanyahu government will likely try to build on this momentum and continue to put enormous effort into encouraging foreign diplomatic missions to move to Israel’s eternal and undivided capital.” — Enia Krivine, Senior Director of FDD’s Israel Program and National Security Network