Sacred Foundations: Why Pacific Nations Are Choosing Jerusalem for Their Embassies

At the center of a growing push by Pacific island nations to establish embassies in contested Jerusalem lies an ancient Biblical prophecy, according to experts and former diplomats speaking to AFP.

Israel may appear an unlikely ally for the distant nations of the tropical South Pacific, with little overlap in culture, language, cuisine, or sport.

Yet Pacific island countries have repeatedly proven themselves among Israel’s most unwavering supporters on the world stage.

Tiny Nauru opened an embassy in Jerusalem earlier this month, becoming one of only a handful of nations to defy international pressure and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the holy city.

Papua New Guinea and Fiji are already counted among just seven UN member states with embassies in Jerusalem, while Samoa has announced its intention to follow suit later this year.

Former Fijian diplomat Salote Tagivakatini said these moves are driven less by strategic calculation and more by deep religious conviction.

“Christianity is the most significant underlying factor,” she told AFP.

“Approximately 90 percent of indigenous Pacific islanders identify as Christians.

“As a result, their reading of the Bible and belief in Jewish people as ‘God’s chosen people’ compels them to support Israel.”

Waves of European missionaries traversed the South Pacific throughout the 19th century, introducing evangelical Christian teachings that were embraced with remarkable fervor.

Large portions of the Pacific today hold firmly to Old Testament prophecy, which holds that the Jewish people are destined to one day return to the Land of Israel.

In parts of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji, some communities even identify as descendants of one of the “Lost Tribes of Israel”.

Anthropologists have documented the Gogodala people of western Papua New Guinea singing Hebrew songs and raising the Israeli flag during tribal ceremonies.

– ‘Land of God’ –

Religion and politics intertwine freely in the South Pacific, where many nations enshrine their Christian faith in their founding constitutions.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is a former lay preacher in the Methodist church, while Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape is a devout son of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor.

Samoan Prime Minister La’auli Leuatea Schmidt wore a Jewish prayer shawl when he was sworn in last year, entering the ceremony to the sound of a ceremonial “shofar” horn.

“I stand for Israel, the land of God,” he said at the time, according to local media.

“Samoa will stand up and support the holy land of God.”

Despite such strong political declarations, support for Israel is far from universal across the region.

A small group of demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags gathered to await Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar during his visit to Fiji earlier this year.

Most countries have maintained their embassies in Tel Aviv on the grounds that Jerusalem’s ultimate status should be resolved through a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

However, US President Donald Trump disrupted this consensus in 2018 by relocating the American embassy to Jerusalem.

Only a few nations have since followed that lead: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay.

There is a longstanding history of foreign powers courting Pacific island states for their diplomatic influence.

When Russia-backed separatists in northwestern Georgia attempted to establish a breakaway state in the early 2000s, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Nauru were among the few countries to extend recognition.

Tuvalu, Palau, and the Marshall Islands remain among the only nations that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

In recent years, China has persuaded the Solomon Islands, Nauru, and Kiribati to cut ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing.

International affairs expert Shannon Brincat said the strategic gains for Israel from its Pacific alliances are readily apparent.

– ‘Not Transactional’ –

“Symbolically, these moves are enormous. By relocating their embassies to Jerusalem, these nations normalize Israel’s claim to be its undivided capital.”

It is less clear what these small nations have received in return, Brincat told AFP.

According to Lowy Institute data, Israel has allocated US$2 million for aid and development programs in the Pacific since 2015.

Major donors such as Australia and China have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in comparison.

Pacific security researcher Maima Koro argued that conventional notions of reciprocal diplomacy fail to capture the nature of this relationship.

“To them, Israel are the people of God. And there is a promise that God made to Israel,” Koro, of Adelaide University, told AFP.

“It is not transactional. The connection is spiritual.”

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