The 20 Parliamentarians signed a foundation document reaffirming Israel as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Costa Rico has announced an official Israel Allies Caucus in its parliament last week, becoming the 33rd country in the world to do so, officials present at the event said Sunday.
The caucus was facilitated by The Israel Allies Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting communication between parliamentarians and legislators around the world who share the belief that the State of Israel has the right to exist in peace within secure borders.
“The establishment of the caucus demonstrates Costa Rica’s profound support for Israel and the importance it places in its bilateral relationship with the Jewish state,” said the foundation’s Latin American coordinator, Leopoldo Martinez.
The Costa Rican Israel Allies Caucus consists of Legislative President, Rafael Ortiz and a dozen other parliament members from five different parties: Karla Prendas, Paulina Ramírez, Sandra Piszk, Juan Luis Jimenez, Juan Marin and Michael Arce of the National Liberation Party; Otto Guevara, the President of the Libertarian Movement; Gonzalo Ramirez, Abelino Esquivel and Fabricio Alvarado of the two Christian parties; Victor Morales and Marvin Atencio Zapata of the Official Party.
“For years, the solidarity and friendship between the people of Costa Rica and Israel has been very clear, but we must constantly nourish and strengthen the relationship,” Prendas, the chairwoman of the caucus, told her fellow parliamentarians. We are here to increase efforts in that direction. That is precisely the reason for this activity.”
Twenty parliamentarians, including the Ortiz and three members of the board of the Legislative Assembly, signed a foundation document at the meeting that reaffirmed “the right of the State of Israel and the Jewish People to Jerusalem as its eternal capital,” and recommended “that all the countries move their embassy to Jerusalem.”
The parliament members were joined at the launch by Tal Naim, Israel’s Consul General in Costa Rica.
Guevara said he was one of two MPs from Costa Rica who attended the foundation’s Latin America Summit on Israel in Miami in April.
“It was a wonderful and informative experience.
The foundation has an international network of parliamentarians around the world and I strongly encourage everyone to support their efforts,” he said.
The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus was established in 2004 and consists of 17 members of Knesset from six political parties. The caucus aims to open formal and direct lines of communication between Knesset members and Christian leaders, organizations and political representatives around the world. The foundation, which coordinates the activities of the 33 Israel Allies Caucuses around the world, was founded in 2006.
“Faith Based diplomacy is the only way to turn the tide in the battle for support in Latin America,” said Josh Reinstein, director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus. “Israel’s Christian allies must unite in order to confront the gathering storm.”
Well, I feel our own American culture and heritage is being robbed by Latin American immigrants.
As for Greece, that country is being destroyed by its own socialist welfare state.
Well, I feel our American culture and heritage is being robbed by Latin American immigrants.
As for Greece, they are being destroyed by their own huge socialist welfare state.
@ ebyjeeby:
Good question. I’d like to know too and a little internet search didn’t show much. Anybody knows please? Thanx.
I wonder what the other 32 countries are that recognize Israel as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as its capital?
@ ArnoldHarris:
What beautiful news!!! What a relief to our hearts to hear that at least ONE COUNTRY is openly and actively FOR Israel and therefore FOR the rest of the Jews!!! I’ve been wanting to visit Costa Rica for years but because the whole world is so much against Israel, I decided to not put my money into it. However, now it’s my chance to visit Costa Rica and tell everyone I come in contact with there, how much I appreciate them and that – THAT is why I’m visiting them! 🙂
And Arnold, you wrote a beautiful post too. News like this amidst the murderous tzures we are suffering nonstop more or less since the last 8 years, elevate our spirits to new heights also renewing our hopes as if being born again!!! I only hope many more countries follow suit and that they won’t retract that beautiful action by any of the savages’ threats…
AM ISRAEL CHAI!!!
LONG LIVE AMERICA!!!
LONG LIVE COSTA RICA!!!
@ Laura</a
It's good to hear from you again, Laura.
Have you ever given much thought to whether or not the people of countries such as Costa Rica don't wish to be colonies of the United States of America, economic or otherwise, simply on grounds that we have a high-price economy and that some of the money would wind up in local pockets, businesses, and banks? I would have thought that our experiences with Cuba, before Fidel Castro and Che Guevara ran both La Cosa Nostra and the crooked Cuban government they had bought, right off the island?
I know a little about Costa Rica. A retired University of Wisconsin natural sciences professor and his wife, nearby neighbors, own property there and spend a large part of each year in that beautiful country. Based on what I think I know, the worse thing in the world for their "Ticos" (males) and "Ticas" (females), which is how they refer to themselves, would be for our economy, our way of life, and just the raw numbers of "Yanqui" expats among them would rob their own culture of its uniqueness.
I wouldn't want that to happen to Israel, and I wouldn't want it to happen to Costa Rica. And even without the American mobsters, one Belize, with its ubiquitous advertisements to attract a rich American "aliya" is enough in Central America.
Another reason is the example of contemporary Greece, which, in order to join the Eurozone, sold themselves out to the German and British tourists, while the rest of their native economy shrank.
By the way. "Pura Vida" (pure life), is more or less their social motto, and is given, with a wide and honest smile, as a response to just about any kind of comment.
Their culture is that of the Castilian Spanish who settled there in relatively large numbers. Which is not surprising for a place whose very name translates to "rich coast".
It's one of the places in the world that I'm sorry Stefi and I have never taken the opportunity to visit.
In any case, there are places where I want a lot of settlement of just the right type, such as Shomron and Yehuda. There are others that I think should be left relatively unspoiled. That includes Costa Rica.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Arnold, you post a good comment and then you end it by bashing Americans who have probably improved Costa Rica’s economy.
But then again, if they are expats, they aren’t good Americans anyway.
That any country whatsoever has recognized Yerushalayim as the Jewish capital city of the Jewish state was a surprise to me. That Costa Rica is one of 33 such countries which have treated the Jewish nation and the Jewish state as they would wish us to treat them, seems almost amazing, considering the current age of rampant Islam-backed Jew hatred.
All of you who have read my comments over the years have seen me reflect the hard-core unforgiving attitude that I learned about goyim in general, on the streets and in the high schools of Chicago in the late 1940s. But sometimes, my consciousness is impacted by the spirit of the scores of generations of my Jewish ancestors in Europe. That was a spirit that never gave up hope for a better future. Not for nothing is the national anthem of Israel is nothing other than HaTikva. I know I cannot frequently count on manifestation of hopes. But without them, life becomes empty and not infrequently, totally vicious.
So, muchas gracias, Costa Rica. And may los Ticos and las Ticas of what I am told is your beautiful and pleasant country, enjoy the spirit of la Pura Vida.
Over the years, a lot of our Yanquis have settled into your country as either part-time or full-time expats. I hope you don’t let them overwhelm either your economy or your way of life.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI