PRIME Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he had made the decision back in the 1990s, during his earlier term as Prime Minister, to establish an embassy in Jerusalem.
Social media commentators had been questioning the Government’s decision to establish Fiji’s embassy in Jerusalem.
Explaining the reason for establishing Fiji’s Embassy in Israel, Mr Rabuka said Israel had been a longtime friend of Fiji, consistently supporting its peacekeeping missions since the 1990s.
“The decision was made by Government, not any one of the parties in Government,” he said.
“We had made that decision.
“I had decided way back in the 1990s when I was Prime Minister, that we would set up an Embassy in Jerusalem.”
He said following the 1987 coup, when other countries distanced themselves from Fiji, Israel was the one that stepped forward to offer support.
“When everybody else had taken away from us, had gone away, our normal defence partners moved away from Fiji after the coup in 1987 – Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, they all turned away, so, they (Israel) backed Fiji.
“Fiji had to survive. Fiji had to continue to man our peacekeeping battalions and equipment, and Israel was one of those that stepped forward.
“They even gave us some double class patrol boats and some machine guns and weapons to continue our obligation to international peacekeeping.”
