Yesterday the Foreign Minister told us the position on Israel was a unanimous cabinet and parliamentary decision.
We asked him if he's concerned about alienating Israel:
Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We don't have much cooperation with Israel and therefore when we did our analysis there was no major concern that cooperation arrangements of cooperation programs would be affected. Just by way of an anecdote Israel voted consistently against Belize's independence and in 1980 abstained. Israel has never voted for Belize to be an independent country."
Indeed, Israel has always had exceptionally close ties with Guatemala, and the US. We asked Courtenay about the possible implications there:
Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The government of Guatemala and the government of Israel have always had a very, very close relationship, as you have said. And we have monitored that relationship from a security point of view, and I won't go into the details of that."
"I don't think that anything I say or the government of Belize has done or will do will affect the relationship between those two countries. I don't think that Belizeans should be concerned that there is going to be any reaction by Israel in terms of doing anything with Guatemala that would harm Belize."
"If it is that they seek to have some reprisals against us in the international arena, then I'm sure our diplomats and our friends will come to our aid. The point of the matter is that the world is facing a very serious crisis."
"And countries such as ours have to determine for themselves whether or not they will remain silent on this issue and whether or not they are going to be inactive and do nothing. I believe that if more countries were to take similar steps like Belize, like Colombia, like Honduras, like Chile, like South Africa, like Chad, then you would see perhaps a change in the Israeli posture."
"The primary objective of our position is to bring about a ceasefire and to allow aid to go in."
Jules Vasquez
"Is the state of Belize at all concerned that it may be offending the United States?"
Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Well, our message was not directed at the United States nor was it directed at anyone else in the other country except Israel, first of all, secondly, I think the United States and Belize have excellent relations, and I think that they will understand that the position we have taken is a principled one."
"We have spoken on this issue, by that I mean Belize has issued tweets and we have issued press releases along with Caricom on this issue and so the United States and all other countries know where Belize stands."
"Up until this time no country has ever said to Belize, you guys you need to reconsider your position. I do not expect the United States to ask us to reconsider our position and I would expect the United States and others to respect the decision that we have taken."
