Paraguay's surprise announcement Wednesday that it will return its embassy to Tel Aviv merely four months after dedicating its mission in Jerusalem is a serious blow to Israel's efforts to achieve international recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Moreover, it is a serious, personal affront to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asunción's decision is doubly hard to accept because it comes on the heels of an announcement the current Colombian government that it stands by its predecessor's decision to recognize a Palestinian state.
Historically, Colombia has been one of Israel's greatest friends in Latin America and the two nations maintain robust trade and defense ties.
Netanyahu visited Colombia a year ago, as part of a move meant to cement Latin American nations' support for the Jewish state, but this did not seem to matter when Bogotá decided to recognize Palestine.
If anything, the fact that Netanyahu was unable to reverse this decision – nor did he pursue any punitive diplomatic moves against Colombia for the damage its decision inflicted on Israel's international image – proved that Israel has very little influence in Latin America.
Adding insult to injury, Paraguay has now recanted its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The prime minister all but stakes his international prestige on this, promising time and again that after the United States, Guatemala and Paraguay relocated their embassies to Jerusalem, many more nations will follow.
Much to Netanyahu's chagrin, not only are no new embassies opening in Jerusalem, one of the three is bidding the city farewell and the entire thing has taken the Foreign Ministry by surprise.
Latin America seems to be sending Israel a warning. We would be wise to look into it.
