By Raul Castillo
May 1, 2024, 8:30 PM EDT
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced this Wednesday that on Thursday he will break relations with Israel for what he called “genocide” against the Palestinian people. In response, the Israeli Foreign Minister called him “anti-Semitic.”
“Here before you, the Government of change, the president of the republic, informs that tomorrow diplomatic relations will be broken with the State of Israel (…) for having a Government, for having a genocidal president,” Petro said at the event. in Bogotá for Labor Day, as reported by the EFE agency.
“Today, all of humanity in the streets, by the millions, agrees with us and we with them,” added the Colombian president, an ardent defender of the Palestinian cause, in reference to his decision to break relations with Israel.
“It cannot be, it cannot return, the times of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our passivity, cannot come,” the president said in front of the workers.
Petro had already threatened twice to break relations with Israel. The first was on October 15, two weeks after the start of the war in Gaza following the attacks on Israel by the armed wing of Hamas; and the second was on March 26.
“If Palestine dies, humanity dies and we are not going to let it die just as we are not going to let humanity die,” the Colombian president stated today on stage.
According to Petro, “perhaps today the world could be summed up in a word (…) that vindicates the need for life, rebellion, the raised flag and resistance: that word is called Gaza, it is called Palestine, the girls are called, the children, babies who have died dismembered by bombs.”
Israel’s response
In response to Petro’s decision, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz referred to the Colombian president as a “hate-filled anti-Semite.”
“The president of Colombia promised to reward the murderers and rapists of Hamas, and today he kept his promise. History will remember that Gustavo Petro decided to side with the most despicable monsters known to humanity who burned babies, murdered children, raped women and kidnapped innocent civilians,” Katz said today on the social network .
However, the minister also recalled that relations between both countries have always been “warm” and that an “anti-Semitic and hateful president will not be able to change that.”
With information from EFE.
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