Relations between Israel and Colombia have been strained in recent days due to the president’s statements Gustavo Petro after the Hamas militia raid on October 7.

Petro, very active on social networks, first asked Israel and Palestine to come to a negotiating table for peace and for “the existence of two states and two free and sovereign nations.”

Israel, for its part, requested a condemnation of the attack suffered. After the invasion of Hamas, that country launched a counter-offensive against Gaza. More than 2,500 people had died on both sides.

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Colombia and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1957 and are not only allies in terms of security due to the conflicts experienced by both countries, but have also strengthened their relationship with a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which has been in force since August 2020, while the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state is more recent, as of August 2018.

The two countries have close security cooperation and the Jewish state is a major supplier of military equipment to Colombia, including fighter planes, guns and supplies.

In a recent post, Petro described the unprecedented rise of fascism. “What we see in Palestine will also be the suffering in the world of all the peoples of the south.”

He also pointed out that the southern right believes they can kill and commit genocide.

Israel, for its part, has summoned Colombia’s ambassador to Israel, Margarita Manjarrez, for a meeting to rebuke Petro’s “hostile and anti-Semitic” statements against that state over the past week.

“Israel condemns the President’s statements that reflect support for the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists, fuel anti-Semitism, target the representatives of the State of Israel and threaten the peace of the Jewish community in Colombia. In response, Israel decided as a first measure to halt security exports to Colombia,” it was announced.

A few minutes later came Petro’s response in which he expected that if he had to suspend foreign relations, he would do so and said that the President of Colombia is not insulted. He also asked for solidarity from Latin America with his country.

“Neither the Yair Klein nor the Raifal Eithan will be able to say what the history of peace in Colombia is. They unleashed the massacre and genocide in Colombia. From the people of Israel I demand assistance in the peace of Colombia and assistance in the peace of Palestine and the world. “Colombia, as Bolivar and Nariño taught us, is a sovereign and just independent people,” he wrote. (JO)