Last Thursday, in a low-key ceremony in Jerusalem, President Juan Orlando Hernandes of Honduras dedicated his country's new embassy in Jerusalem.
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The event was the culmination of a relationship began 30 years ago, when Israeli diplomats first contacted Hernandes, then a young man unversed in politics. No less important, Matty Cohen, who until recently served as the Israeli ambassador to Honduras and Guatemala, chalked up two victories for Israeli diplomacy: both countries – out of a total of four, including the US and Kosovo – have now moved their embassies to Jerusalem.
This is a personal and political achievement that no other Israeli diplomat has even approached.
"I'm a fifth-generation Jerusalemite on my mother's side. I saw the dedication ceremony from 12,000 kilometers away, via Zoom, but still I was excited, I felt pride and satisfaction, I even shed a tear. We've worked so hard for this moment."
Talented as they may be, diplomats do not work alone. "Ultimately it's mostly a question of seizing opportunities, timing, and luck," Cohen said.
Great as his achievements are, there is no doubt that the origins of the two countries' decision to move their embassies lie in the distant past, at least in Guatemala's case.
In fact, the Guatemalan UN delegate had a decisive role in promoting the establishment of the Jewish state. As for Honduras, the seeds wisely planted by Israeli diplomats sometime in the early 1990s bore fruit in 2021 – a development we shall return to. What is certain is that Ambassador Cohen was instrumental in both cases. In a Zoom call with the Ambassador's Residence in Guatemala City, Cohen reveals how events unfolded behind the scenes.
"Let's begin with Guatemala. At the time, for the first time in the country's history, an evangelical Christian – Morales – was elected President, appointing Sandra Jovel, who is also an evangelical Christian, as his foreign minister. Today, about half of Guatemala's residents are evangelical, and Israel is very popular there, with Israeli flags flown in the streets."
Q: How did you proceed given these conditions?
"On Dec. 6, 2017, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced he would move the American Embassy there. Consequently, the Israeli Foreign Ministry directed its embassies worldwide to check the feasibility of other countries taking a similar step."
To get the wheels rolling, Cohen approached a number of lobbies and position holders sympathetic towards Israel. One group that took up the challenge was the Guatemala Peace Club, which includes thousands of members who took courses offered by Mashav – the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Agency for International Cooperation. Another lobby was a group of Guatemalan congressmen who support Israel.
The efforts paid off, and Morales began receiving inquiries from all over the country. However, public interest sometimes requires the action of a forceful personality, and Cohen took the opportunity to conduct a conversation with Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel at an event in which both took part.
"I told her this was a historic opportunity that shouldn't be missed, that Guatemala was the second country to recognize Israel in 1948, immediately following the US and that now, 70 years later, they can become the second country, after the US, to move its embassy to Jerusalem."
Jovel, who was appointed to her post quite unexpectedly, gave it some thought, understood Cohen's message, and began to take action. She approached President Morales with a positive recommendation. Additional pressure was exerted by the Jewish community and other prominent public figures.
To close the deal, Cohen recommended to the National Security Council that then-Prime Minister Netanyahu speak with Morales. As in every good story, at the very last moment, something went wrong.
"Since Guatemala is a very Christian country, I had a feeling the timing – Christmas Eve – would be appropriate for making a decision. The two leaders were supposed to speak at 10 PM Israel time. When the fixed hour arrived, the call was put through but got disconnected. They tried again, and again it was disconnected. After ten minutes of failed attempts, the NSC representative said, 'Let's postpone the conversation.' Instinctively I answered, 'No, they have to talk now.'"
Cohen's persistence paid off. A different phone was found, and the two leaders spoke. Netanyahu raised the request to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and Morales agreed. Foreign Minister Jovel informed the ambassador a few minutes later that a decision had been made.
"As they say, I almost fell off my chair when I heard," Cohen says. Half a year later, and exactly two days after the US inaugurated its own embassy in Jerusalem, Morales, Netanyahu, Cohen, and others attended the inauguration ceremony of Guatemala's Jerusalem embassy.
The working conditions in Honduras were more complicated. Due to budget cuts, the Israeli Embassy in Tegucigalpa closed in 1995, so the ambassador did not reside in the country. Furthermore, Honduras is home to a large and influential Palestinian community.
"I called a senior official whose opinion I valued and he said there was no chance. In indirect talks with Honduran Palestinians, I learned that as long as their businesses were not affected, they were not opposed to a Honduran embassy in Jerusalem."
Cohen contacted evangelical leaders in Honduras and asked them to raise the issue with the government. "In March 2018, Mashav Director-General Gil Haskel visited both countries. The first-ever visit to the two countries of an Israeli minister – then-Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin – took place in April. I entered Hernandes' office together with Levin, and he raised the subject. I remember we came out of the meeting, looked each other in the eye and said, 'It might happen.'"
Just before the plan was to be realized, some Israelis almost ruined everything. As the first graduate of a Mashav course to become the leader of a country, Hernandes was invited to light a torch at Israel's 70th Independence Day celebrations. He had made his fortune as a businessman before entering politics, but Israeli leftists and the media attacked Netanyahu for "inviting a corrupt dictator." Hernandes canceled his participation but did not stop the process of moving the embassy.
"In September 2019, he met Netanyahu in Israel, and the offices were opened. The assumption was that in 2020 the embassies would open officially, but then came COVID."
Six months ago, the Foreign Ministry appointed diplomat Eldad Golan to the post of the Israeli ambassador to Honduras. Hernandes, elected in 2014 and soon to leave office, decided this was the time to complete the process and open the embassy in Jerusalem, as promised.
"In November, just before Golan's appointment as ambassador to Honduras, I came there on a farewell visit and met the President. He told me about the Mashav leadership course he had taken in Israel in 1991, and said: 'That course changed my life.
"The tools I received there aided me in my public work. I'm proud to be the first Mashav graduate to have become a president.' Efforts invested by an Israeli diplomat in Honduras 30 years ago eventually led to an important outcome. This story," Cohen continued, "proves that Israel needs representation on the ground. WhatsApp and Twitter can't replace legwork.
"The mission has been accomplished," adds Cohen, who was recently appointed Non-Resident Ambassador to El Salvador, "another country sympathetic to Israel with Israeli flags in the streets. Who knows, maybe in the future a third embassy will move to the capital of Israel."
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