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(JTA) — Israel paused arms gross sales to Colombia over what Israel’s overseas ministry referred to as Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “hostile and anti-Semitic statements,” and Petro responded by threatening to droop all diplomatic ties with Israel.
Since Hamas’ assaults on Israel on Oct. 7, Petro — Colombia’s first left-wing president in many years — has repeatedly written pro-Palestinian posts on X, the social platform previously often called Twitter, and argued with Jewish leaders.
In current days, he has said Hamas is the “invention of Mossad to divide the Palestinian people” and compared Israel’s bombing of Gaza to Nazism.
On Sunday, Lior Haiat, an Israeli overseas affairs ministry spokesperson, posted on X that Israel could be stopping all safety exports to Colombia as a “first measure.” Colombia and Israel signed a free commerce settlement in 2020, and Colombia’s military at present makes use of armored automobiles, machine weapons and different weapons supplied by Israel in its battle in opposition to drug cartels within the nation.
Haiat’s assertion additionally famous that Colombia’s ambassador to Israel, Margarita Manjarrez, was summoned for a dialog in regards to the president’s statements on the battle.
In response, Petro responded on X with a tweet currently pinned to the highest of his profile, saying “If we’ve got to droop overseas relations with Israel, we droop them. We don’t assist genocides.”
In the identical tweet, he added: “Sometime the military and authorities of Israel will ask us for forgiveness for what their males did in our land, unleashing the genocide. I’ll hug them and they’re going to cry for the homicide of Auschwitz and Gaza, and for the Colombian Auschwitz.’
Israel’s ambassador to Colombia, Gali Dagan, has additionally been feuding with Petro and different pro-Palestinian Colombians on X. In response to Petro’s declare that Hamas is an invention of Israel, Dagan sarcastically wrote: “It’s true, Mr. President @petrogustavo, as you wrote on this trill, certainly #Hamas is an invention of the Mossad. Nonetheless, I wish to share with you extra info from our intelligence providers, that are a few of the finest on this planet: The Elders of Zion based the Gulf Clan. There are nonetheless Jews, with giant, aquiline noses, who command the Gaitanista Self-Protection Forces of Colombia.”
In response to Dagan’s feedback, Colombian International Minister Álvaro Leyva Durán wrote on X: “The historical past of common diplomacy will file as a milestone the mindless rudeness of Israel’s ambassador in Colombia in the direction of President Gustavo. Disgrace on him. He ought to no less than apologize and go away.”
Durán later appeared to backtrack this tweet as some interpreted it as an order for ambassador Dagan to depart. “I’ve not stated that the Israeli ambassador is expelled,” he tweeted. Durán elaborated that his solely intention was to name for “respect” for President Petro.
Marcos Peckel, the director of Colombia’s Jewish communal group, wrote “We remorse the statements of the President @petrogustavo on X. The Jewish group of Colombia will proceed working to take care of the historic ties between Colombia and Israel which have introduced a lot profit to our nation.”
U.S. authorities officers have additionally commented on Petro’s tweets.
“We strongly condemn President Petro’s statements and name on him to sentence Hamas, a delegated terrorist group, for its barbaric homicide of Israeli males, ladies and youngsters,” stated Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Particular Envoy to Monitor and Fight Antisemitism.
In an announcement, the American Jewish Committee referred to as Petro’s risk to chop ties “each unlucky and doubtlessly harmful.”
“The president’s antisemitic rhetoric can put Colombia’s Jews at risk at a time when their security ought to be of paramount concern,” the group wrote.
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