​(Communicated by the Prime minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah, this morning (Wednesday, 16 May 2018), attended the ceremony to open of the Embassy of Guatemala in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"Shalom, Buenos Dias.

This is the beginning of something extraordinary, or I would say, the re-beginning of something extraordinary, which is the relationship between Guatemala and Israel.

I want to, on behalf of my wife and myself, to offer you President Jimmy Morales and your wife a special welcome to Jerusalem, a special welcome to all your delegation of distinguished representatives from Guatemala, the Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel and the ministers who are here and the members of Congress, the guests who have come here from around the world, ministers of the Israeli government, Deputy Minister, Members of Knesset, Ambassadors, Ambassador Friedman and Mrs. Friedman from the United States.

This goes hand in hand. Yesterday we opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem, two days ago, and it's not a coincidence that Guatemala is opening its embassy in Jerusalem right among the first. You are always among the first, always among the first.

You are the second country to recognize Israel but you had a very important role in this because your Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Granados was very active in lobbying the countries at the UN at the time to support the Partition Resolution, which was effectively the recognition of the Jewish state by the United Nations.

In his honor and the honor of Guatemala's efforts in those days there's a Guatemala street right here, right here, it's about a kilometer from here in Jerusalem. There's a Guatemala street in many cities and many communities in Israel because we remember our friends, and Guatemala is our friend then and now.

We share so many goals and so many values even though we are seemingly far away, we're not really far away because you established your freedom in 1821, Libertad, but the idea of freedom, the idea of human freedom started here in this city where the prophets, the great prophets said: All men and women are created equal in the image of God, in the eyes of God.

This is the core of the idea of freedom. It's also the core of the idea of law. It started in Jerusalem. Judaism started in Jerusalem, Christianity started in Jerusalem and this is something that is a sharing principle that allows us to go forward to many, many areas of modernity, of technology, of prosperity, an alliance for prosperity.

We're going to talk about that later today but we've already began to work on it, and it's in this spirit of friendship and a common bond that we welcome you to Jerusalem for the opening of this embassy. I look forward to discussing with you the practical ways, the practical ways that we can advance this friendship and this alliance but today I just want to say how delighted we are to have you, and I think we need more Guatemala streets and we're going to have them.

Thank you Jimmy, welcome. Welcome to Jerusalem, welcome to Israel and one more thing, one more thing: because I want a few streets to be named for Israel in Guatemala my next trip to Latin America goes through Guatemala. Thank you, with your kind invitation."

Before the ceremony, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Guatemalan President Morales held a private meeting. At the same time Sara Netanyahu met with Patricia Morales.