Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday that Samoa will open an embassy in Jerusalem this year, a rare move as most foreign diplomatic missions to Israel are located in Tel Aviv.
Samoa will become the eighth country to open its mission in Jerusalem, and the third from the Pacific region after Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
"Just spoke with the Prime Minister of Samoa, La'auli Leuatea Schmidt. I thanked him for his moral decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem in 2026," Saar wrote on X, AFP reported.
"I also expressed our appreciation for Samoa's consistent support for Israel in the multilateral arena," he said, adding that he had invited the prime minister to visit Israel.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, in a move not recognized by the international community.
The Israeli government has a formal policy of offering incentives to countries willing to open embassies in Jerusalem, including financial support for relocation and setup costs.
This comes from a government-backed package aimed at encouraging diplomatic missions to the city. For some Pacific states, such support helps cover what would otherwise be a significant diplomatic expense.
Earlier this week, Schmidt said he instructed Samoa's foreign ministry to begin preparations for the embassy's opening by the end of the year, according to a recording of the speech posted on the Samoan government's Facebook page.
In the case of small states like Samoa, diplomatic backing from a globally connected country like Israel can help in areas like development assistance, trade opportunities, training programs and technical cooperation.
Another Pacific island state, Fiji, inaugurated an embassy in Jerusalem in September.
The only other countries to have their diplomatic missions in Jerusalem are the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay.
The dispute over Jerusalem's status and the presence of foreign embassies was reignited when US President Donald Trump broke with decades of international consensus and recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in his first term.
He opened his embassy there in 2018, sparking Palestinian anger and international condemnation.
