A third Pacific nation has indicated plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem, plunging the islands into the international spotlight.
Sāmoa is set to have a presence in Israel's capital city "by the end of the year," according to its Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Polataivao Schmidt, who confirmed the intention during a gathering for the Sāmoan branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem organisation on Sunday.
The move will follow the lead of other deeply-Christian Pasifika countries of Papua New Guinea in 2023 and Fiji in 2025 to relocate or establish embassies in the city.
Both Israel and Palestine — which 145 countries around the world currently recognise, announced their intentions to follow suit — claiming sovereignty over Jerusalem as their capital city where Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions in the historic Old City.
The current count has 89 out of 96 countries — around half of the UN-nation states in the world — base their Israeli embassies in Tel Aviv.
The US — under the first Donald Trump administration in 2017 — was the first state to accept a request from Israel to place its embassy in Jerusalem, with Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo and Paraguay following suit.
Argentina have also recently announced plans to relocate theirs from Tel Aviv.
Mr Schmidt conducted a phone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Sunday.
Diplomatic ties between Israel and Sāmoa have expanded following development cooperation led by Israel's international aid agency.
Israel has publicly expressed appreciation for Sāmoa's voting record at the UN council meetings, where the Polynesian island always has backed the existence of the settler-state born in 1948 on a series of key resolutions.
Both countries have since ratified an agreement in 2023 to allow mutual visa-free travel.
The embassy announcement comes within a week after the Sāmoan Prime Minister asked its National Council of Churches to advise the government over the restriction of practice of other religions which are deemed to promote violence or extremism following the recent alleged antisemitic attack on Sydney's Bondi Beach.
Discussing the latest decision at the branch gathering, Mr Schmidt talked about Sāmoa's connections to Israel, which excluded a separate personal meeting with Israeli deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel while he received medical treatment in New Zealand/Aotearoa last year.
"I'm very grateful when the (deputy) Minister of Foreign Affairs came all the way from Jerusalem to visit me when I was sick in New Zealand," Mr Schmidt said.
"It was a blessing for me to know that Israel has also had an eye (on) Sāmoa because we had a lot of connection in many ways."
Ms Haskel was in New Zealand, briefly, in November amid a trip to both Fiji and PNG.
Fiji's embassy, which opened in September last year, was met with mixed reactions among Indigenous iTaukei community.
Outspoken Fiji Women's Crisis Centre coordinator, Shamima Ali, said Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was "not on the right side of history".
The Fijian government called the move a "strategic step" to enhance cooperation between both nations, while reaffirming its support for a peaceful two-state solution "where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in dignity and with security".
"Fiji has maintained longstanding diplomatic relations with Israel while also supporting legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people," a Fijian government statement said.
Papua New Guinea was far more explicit in laying out religious motivation for its decision.
The admission to place an embassy in Jerusalem was because devout Christians "cannot fully respect God without recognizing Jewish state's capital".
PNG recognised "a shared heritage, acknowledging the creator God, the Yahweh God of Israel, the Yahweh God of Isaac and Abraham," Prime Minister James Marape added.
