Kosovo opened an embassy to Israel for the first time on Sunday, making it the third country with an embassy currently in Jerusalem.
“A truly proud and historic moment for Kosovo-Israel relations,” Kosovar Ambassador Ines Demiri tweeted. “The greatest honor of my life is to have this opportunity to open the embassy and proudly serve my country in Israel.”
Demiri shared several photos of herself in front of the new embassy.
Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that “the pledge given in the Oval Office today is finally fulfilled.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it “warmly welcomes the opening of the Embassy of Kosovo in Jerusalem today, a natural development of the relations and a realization of the Washington agreement.”
Kosovo and Israel officially established diplomatic relations last month, in a ceremony held over video conference. Kosovar Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla submitted a formal request to open an embassy in Jerusalem during the ceremony.
The moves came after the US [under former President Donald Trump] negotiated an economic agreement between Serbia and Kosovo last year. Israel agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Kosovo, and both Balkan countries committed to opening embassies in Jerusalem, though Serbia already has one in Tel Aviv.
Israel does not have immediate plans to open an embassy in Pristina and will have a nonresident ambassador to Kosovo.
Kosovo is the third country to have an embassy in Jerusalem, after the US and Guatemala. Kosovo is the first Muslim-majority country with an embassy in Jerusalem.
Serbia would be the first European country to do so, though the Czech Republic already has a diplomatic mission in the capital city.
Belgrade strongly opposes Israel’s full recognition of Kosovo, and as such, Serbia’s embassy move remains in question.
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