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03-05-2024
BOGOTA: Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday he will break diplomatic relations with Israel over its actions in Gaza.
Petro has already heavily criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and requested to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
“Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic announces that tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel … for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal,” Petro told cheering crowds in Bogota who marched to mark International Worker’s Day and back Petro’s social and economic reforms.
Countries cannot be passive in the face of events in Gaza, he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Petro of being “antisemitic and full of hate”. He said Petro’s move was a reward to the armed group Hamas, which on Oct. 7 led a deadly attack on Israeli military bases and communities.
Bolivia broke with relations with Israel at the end of October last year while several other countries in Latin America, including Colombia, Chile and Honduras, have recalled their ambassadors.
Colombia has asked the International Court of Justice to allow the country to intervene in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, the court said Friday.
In its application, Colombia called on the court to ensure “the safety and, indeed, the very existence of the Palestinian people”.
The ICJ, the highest UN court, can allow states to intervene and give their views. Several states have said they would also seek to intervene in the case but so far only Colombia and Nicaragua have filed a public request.
Last week ICJ judges ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to Palestinians in Gaza.
In January the ICJ, also known as the World Court, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the genocide convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel denies targeting Palestinian civilians, saying its sole interest is to annihilate the militant group Hamas. Lawyers for Israel have dismissed South Africa’s case as an abuse of the genocide convention.
Judges at the International Court of Justice on Thursday unanimously ordered Israel to take all the necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The ICJ said the Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading.
“The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (…) but that famine is setting in,” the judges said in their order.
Bolivia said on Tuesday it had broken diplomatic ties with Israel because of its attacks on the Gaza Strip, while neighbors Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to the Middle Eastern country for consultations.
The three South American nations lambasted Israel’s attacks on Gaza and condemned the deaths of Palestinian citizens.
Bolivia “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip,” Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said at a press conference. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
