#Petro #announces #break #diplomatic #relations #Israel #Thursday
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, announced this Wednesday in his speech to workers for May Day, that on Thursday he will break relations with Israel for what he called “genocide” against the Palestinian people.
“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 Bogota.
“Today, all of humanity in the streets, by the millions, agrees with us and we with them,” said Petro, an ardent defender of the Palestinian cause, referring 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 stated in front of the workers.
The Colombian president had already threatened on October 15, two weeks after the start of the war in Gaza following the attacks on Israel by the armed wing of Hamas, to suspend diplomatic relations with the Jewish State.
On March 26, he reiterated his threat to break relations with Israel if a truce was not established, which, for the first time, the UN Security Council had demanded for the Gaza war.
The war in Gaza has already caused the death of more than 34,500 Palestinians, according to the Israeli media Walla, and Petro has been a fierce critic of Israel for the bombings in the Strip, which he has compared numerous times to the Nazi attacks in the Gaza Strip. Second World War.
“If Palestine dies, humanity dies and we are not going to let it die any more than we are going to let humanity die,” he stated today on the May Day 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.”
Following the statements of the Colombian president, the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia issued a statement rejecting Petro’s decision.
“We deeply regret the announcement by President Gustavo Petro to break diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, a friendly country that is in a war situation that it never wanted and that has 133 of its children, including a Colombian, kidnapped more than 200 days ago. by the terrorist organization Hamas,” the statement says.
Furthermore, the Confederation rejected the “qualification of the Israeli government as genocidal.”
“The historic relations between Israel and Colombia have been mutually beneficial since their establishment in 1953. Israel has collaborated and continues to collaborate with Colombia in multiple areas that benefit millions of compatriots,” they added.
Finally, the statement states that they hope “relations between two brother countries will be maintained, leaving open channels of dialogue and agreement.”
