Is it true that Colombia sent an Israeli ambassador?

In mid -October 2023, the Internet went around the news about the sharp step of the authorities of the South American country in relation to a diplomat from Israel. We checked if this case really took place.

As reported, Colombia decided to send an ambassador of Israel as a result of a diplomatic scandal with the participation of the president of the South American country Gustavo Petro. He allegedly compared the measures that the Israeli government took in relation to the Gaza sector after the Hamas attack, with the actions of the Nazis in Auschwitz, in response to which the Middle Eastern state suspended all transactions with Colombia. Then Petro said: “If we have to suspend international relations with Israel, we will suspend them. We do not support genocides, ”after which the messenger of this country was ordered to leave Bogota. The breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two states was also reported.

The news was widely used on October 16-17 at Telegram - in particular, in the channels "The ax live"(906,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Dmitry Nicotin"(389 000), Colonelcassad (326 000), "Pozdnyakov 3.0"(302 000),"Uncle Glory"(231 000) and"Newsach / Dv"(196 000). The expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Colombia was also reported by some Russian -speaking media from different countries: Russian ""Red spring", Armenian portal News.am, Syrian agency Sana and Iranian edition PARSTODAY.

On October 7, 2023, the radical movement of Hamas (in a number of countries is recognized as a terrorist organization) Apply A series of missile strikes on the territory of Israel. At the same time, militants penetrated the border settlements of this country, where Killed Hundreds of civilians, and more than 220 hostages Beded to the gas sector. In response, Israel began the bombing of this Palestinian territory and preparation To the ground operation in the region, while the Hamas group continued the shelling of Israeli cities. At the time of writing this analysis of power in Jerusalem Reported About 1400 dead, on their part, the Hamas -controlled government in Gaza is about more than 5,000 killed Palestinians.

On October 9, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Galant announced On the introduction of a complete blockade of the gas sector - electricity, fuel and food stopped to arrive there, limited water supply. “We are fighting animals in human form and we will act accordingly,” - declared Galant. This decision was condemned, in particular, human rights organizations Human Rights Watch And Amnesty International, as well as the Supreme EU representative for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrel. The humanitarian situation has aggravated due to migration Hundreds of thousands of people in the southern part of the region, where they were not ready for such a stream of refugees.

President of Colombia Gustavo Petro in his account on X (formerly Twitter) throughout the current war in the Middle East actively criticizes The response of Israel in relation to the gas sector, or rather, draws attention to their humanitarian consequences. The brightest was his reaction to the words of the Minister of Defense of Galant about the Palestinians as "animals", who "will not have electricity, no water, no fuel."

“This is what the Nazis said about the Jews. Democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to recover in international politics. Both Israelis and Palestinians are people who are subordinate to international law. If this heyt-spic continues, it will only lead to the Holocaust ”-so on October 9 Petro Commented Galant's statement. The next day he also Compared Gas sector with concentration camps of the Third Reich and Warsaw Ghetto.

October 15 Ambassador of Colombia in Israel Margarita Manharres called In the Israeli Foreign Ministry and, according to the official representative of the department, Lior Hayat, made it clear that Petro's comments are surprising, represent the “support of the Hamas atrocities” and incite anti -Semitism. As the first response, Israel suspended the export of military products to Colombia. This is a fairly sensitive step - the Middle Eastern country was For Bogota, one of the main suppliers of combat aircraft, surveillance equipment, as well as assault rifles since the 1990s.

The criticism of the Israeli Foreign Ministry did not reassure Gustavo Petro. On the same day he declared: “If we have to suspend international relations with Israel, we will suspend them. We do not support genocides. " He also accused the citizens of Israel of unleashing the genocide in his country many years ago, referring The alleged involvement Military instructor Yair Klein and presidential adviser Rafael Eitan to some crimes during the years civil war In Colombia.

In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia Alvaro Leiva collapsed Criticized by the ambassador of Israel in this country Gali Dagan (that reposted The statement of his Foreign Ministry) and accused him arrogantly to President Petro. "Ashamed! At least apologize and leave, ”Leyu wrote on October 16.

It was this phrase of the Colombian politician that was perceived as announcement Ambassador Israel Persona Non Grata. A few hours later, Minister Leiva published a new tweet in which Clarifiedthat he did not talk about the expulsion of Dagan, but only called a colleague to sanity and respect for President Petro. Columbia Foreign Minister also declaredthat relations with Israel will continue if this country wishes.

October 19 President Gustavo Petro Published A photograph from his meeting with Gali Dagan and Alvaro Leiva, on which all three are smiling. Nevertheless, at the time of writing this analysis, there were no statements by the Israeli authorities about the possible cancellation of the ban on the export of weapons to Colombia. In any case, the replicated news about the breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador is just the result of a misinterpretation of the emotional commentary, which was made by the Foreign Minister of the South American country.

Photo on the cover: Embassies.gov.il

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