Suriname, a Former Dutch Colony in South America, to Open Jerusalem Embassy

The South American country of Suriname will open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday.

Most of the embassies to Israel remain in Tel Aviv, mainly due to the contested nature of Jerusalem, where the Palestinians seek to establish the capital of an independent state in the eastern portion of the city. The most important embassy in Jerusalem is that of the United States, which was moved from Tel Aviv in 2018.

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the former Dutch colony's foreign minister, Albert Ramdin, announced the opening of the embassy in the presence of his Israeli counterpart.

At his meeting with his counterpart from Suriname, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid offered the South American country Israeli humanitarian assistance following severe flooding in the north of the country. It is designed to provide shelter to those made homeless by the disaster.

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Suriname, which gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1975, is situated on the northeast coast of South America.