JPOST: Latin American supporters of Israel gather for virtual conference

The Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) organized on Tuesday a virtual conference gathering over 20 Spanish-speaking government officials who are all members of the Israel Allies Caucus in their country’s parliament that aims at strengthening the ties between their country and Israel.

The IAF is coordinating a network of 50 Israel Allies Caucuses in parliaments around the world, 11 of which are in Latin America. The twenty legislators who attended the meeting, coming from no less than seven Spanish speaking countries, including Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Uruguay, Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia and Honduras, shared their thoughts regarding the ties between their respective countries and Israel.

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin opened the conference by speaking to the participants in Spanish, sharing words of gratitude for their strong support for Israel.

"I would like to express my cordial greetings to the esteemed Latin American political leaders that are attending the Israel Allies Foundation virtual conference. Your presence is a testament to your commitment to strengthening ties between Latin America and Israel," he said.

Levin’s words were followed by Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum who gave special thanks to Guatemala and Honduras in particular for their vocal and bold support for Israel after both countries moved their embassies to Jerusalem.

Other speakers included President of the Interim Government of Venezuela Juan Guaidó, Speaker of the National Congress of Honduras Tomas Zambrano and IAF President Josh Reinstein.

Minister of Industry and Commerce Victor Bisonó from the Dominican Republic said, "When I was serving in Congress for more than eighteen years as a Deputy, I attended several summits of the IAF events, and now as Minister of Industry and Commerce I want to reiterate my commitment to continue advancing in strengthening ties between Israel and the Dominican Republic."

Honduras Congressman Tomás Zambrano, Secretary General of the Congress of Honduras, also spoke, saying that, "As leader of the Israel Allies Caucus in Honduras, we want to send a message of support to the State of Israel from the Congress of Honduras. We want to continue supporting the rapprochement between Israel and the Latin American region. The relationship between Israel and Honduras is very strong today, as demonstrated by the President of Honduras’ statement of his intention to transfer the Honduras embassy to Jerusalem."

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