The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru inaugurated its first embassy in Israel in Jerusalem on Monday, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar attending the ceremony alongside visiting Nauruan Vice President Lionel Aingimea, who is also the country’s foreign minister.

“We see opening an embassy here in Jerusalem not only as a strengthening of our ties with Israel, but also as a message to the world of where we stand,” said Aingimea.

Aingimea asserted Nauru’s “unwavering” support for the Jewish state, saying it is “one of Israel’s most reliable and consistent diplomatic allies at the United Nations,” voting with Jerusalem 71 percent of the time — a number he said “will increase very quickly.”

Israel has previously thanked Nauru – among the smallest nations in the world, with a population of about 12,000 – for its support in the UN and other forums, where Jerusalem has faced increasing isolation in the aftermath of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Israel’s relations with the nations of the South Pacific are advancing tremendously,” Sa’ar said in a readout from the Foreign Ministry, and described Nauru as “one of Israel’s greatest friends.”

Sa’ar said that through MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry’s international development cooperation program, Israeli emergency-care doctors will work to strengthen local medical capabilities in Nauru, and Israel will provide the nation with “medical equipment, including cardiac ultrasound equipment, as well as........

© The Times of Israel