“The history of universal diplomacy will record as a milestone the senseless arrogance of the Israeli ambassador in Colombia towards Gustavo Petro, President of the Republic. Shame. Minimum make excuses and leave. Intelligence meets intelligence. There are states at stake,” the Colombian foreign minister wrote through his X account, formerly Twitter.
The chancellor’s response comes a day after Israel, one of the main suppliers of weapons to the Colombian army, reported that “security exports” to Colombia will be suspended due to Petro’s “anti-Semitic” statements about the war against Hamas.
Hours later Leyva clarified in X that with his initial message he only asked for “respect” towards President Petro. “Understand. I have not said that the Israeli ambassador is expelled,” she clarified.
Since the Palestinian Islamist group’s attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent retaliation in the Gaza Strip, Petro has flooded the X network with comments against the conflict and often in favor of the Palestinian cause.
In one of the messages, he evoked the Holocaust to refer to the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza and the blockades to which its inhabitants have been subjected since 2006.
Israel’s response to Colombia
The spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lior Haiatassured on Sunday that His country received these statements “with astonishment.”
In addition to announcingr the suspension of exports in securityHaiat said he had a “reprimand conversation” with the Colombian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Margarita Manjarrez, after Petro’s statements, which he described as “hostile and anti-Semitic.”
The Colombian military forces use Israeli-made weapons and aircraft. During the government of the right-wing Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) relations between both countries were close and welcomed by the United States, whose army is one of the main allies of its counterpart in Colombia.
Source: Ambito
