Guatemala to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after Trump's vow to do same

Guatemala will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the country's President has said, less than three weeks after Donald Trump announced the US would do the same.

The Central American country was one of nine nations that voted earlier this week with the US when the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution denouncing Mr Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. President Jimmy Morales said on his official Facebook account that after talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he decided to instruct his foreign ministry to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He wrote: "We spoke about the excellent relations that we have had as nations since Guatemala supported the creation of the state of Israel. "One of the most important topics was the return of the embassy of Guatemala to Jerusalem. "I have instructed the chancellor to initiate the respective coordination so that it may be." The resolution passed at the UN declared the US action on Jerusalem "null and void". The 128-9 vote was a victory for Palestinians, but fell short of the total they had predicted. Thirty-five nations abstained and 21 stayed away from the vote. The US is an important source of aid to Guatemala, and Mr Trump had threatened to cut off financial help for countries that voted in favour of the UN resolution.