Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced Sunday that Samoa will establish an embassy in Jerusalem this year, marking a rare step since most foreign missions to Israel are based in Tel Aviv, according to AFP.
“Just spoke with the Prime Minister of Samoa, La’auli Leuatea Schmidt. I thanked him for his moral decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem in 2026,” Saar wrote on X.
Samoa will become the eighth nation to establish a mission in Jerusalem, and the third from the Pacific region, joining Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
“I also expressed our appreciation for Samoa’s consistent support for Israel in the multilateral arena,” he said.
Saar has also invited the prime minister to visit Israel.
This move followed Israel’s plans to open an embassy in Fiji, after the Pacific island nation inaugurated its mission in Jerusalem in September.
Normally, Tel Aviv is home to several embassies as Jerusalem is considered one of the most sensitive and delicate issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, prompting most countries to avoid establishing their diplomatic missions in the city.
Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967, and later annexed it. However, the international community did not recognize this move.
Jews claim the city as their eternal and undivided capital while the Palestinian Authority wants east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
US President Donald Trump took a unilateral decision in 2017 by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Consequently, the US transferred its embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.
Guatemala then announced it would follow suit and transferred its own embassy to Jerusalem.
In September 2023, Papua New Guinea opened an embassy in Jerusalem.
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