And when the government cut diplomatic ties with Israel last week, an Israeli spokesperson from their Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the move, saying that Belize was surrendering to Hamas' terrorism.
Today, the PM clarified that Belize has always supported a two state solution, and the suspension of diplomatic relations with Israel is only temporary.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I know there are going to be some people that are not going to be happy with the decision that we have taken but I believe in the months to come, they will be able to reflect and to understand that we as a country, we as a people also have a right to make our own decision. That does not mean that we don't like jews, we like them, we support them, and they also have a right to exist. The Israeli citizens, they also have a right to have a country called Israel, and we support that 100%, but it comes down to what the Israeli government is doing, committing genocide against the Palestinians people and I don't think that any person or any Christian or non Christian, any person with a conscience should be able to look at that and stand up and speak out on behalf of the Palestinian people."
Reporter:
"The Belize government supports a two state solution?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Of course, we've said that from day 1, the two state solution, go back to the boundaries that were set in 1967 and that East Jerusalem should be the capital of Palestine, that has always been our position."
Reporter:
"At what point will the Belizean government restore relations with Israel?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Once we believe that there's a ceasefire, because it's not a permanent, it's just a temporary freezing of the diplomatic relations between our countries but we plan in the future to be able to have diplomatic relations with Israel."
"But we believe that for this moment that we should take a stop on that relationship temporarily, hoping that they could listen to more and more countries asking for a ceasefire."
Reporter:
"What goes through your mind when you see the images coming out of Gaza?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"It breaks my heart, I stopped watching it. I literally feel like the tears want to come out so I don't watch the tears anymore, I listen to the story, I read about it but when you see a man just screaming out in pain because he has his baby in his hand, how could that not touch you? I can't see it and I just can't imagine the horror that the Palestinian people are going through."
