Israel-Guatemala: The Surprising Connection

In any UN resolution against Israel, only a handful of countries side with the small nation-state. The United States almost always votes in Israel’s favor, but there is another small country that has shown its support for Israel in UN votes. That country is Guatemala. Why are Israel-Guatemala relations so strong?

While some might attribute this support to the rise of evangelical Christianity in Guatemala in recent years, that is only part of the story. Guatemala has a long history of supporting Israel and it was a significant player in the country’s founding.

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Guatemala’s Role in Founding Modern-Day Israel

When the UN created the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), the Guatemalan ambassador Jorge García Granados played a key role. UNSCOP had eleven members including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, India, Iran, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, and Guatemala. Granados was the Guatemalan representative in UNSCOP.