Colombia demands 'Israel' envoy leave amid spat over Palestine support
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced the genocide committed by Israeli occupation forces against the people of Gaza and called for a United Nations special session.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro during a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington on April 20, 2023 (AP)
Colombia has ordered the Israeli ambassador to the South American country, Gali Dagan, to leave over his criticism of the Colombian President's remarks in support of Palestine and Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli aggression.
The Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva expressed that the envoy should "at a minimum, apologize and leave" after lashing out at Petro on social media, calling his remarks "rude", and adding they were a "shame".
Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced the genocide committed by Israeli occupation forces against the people of Gaza and called for a United Nations special session.
The President announced his intention to send humanitarian aid from Colombia to Gazans, whom he announced are suffering "under a cruel siege exacerbated by the Israeli aggression."
Petro demanded that healthcare workers be protected and stressed that such attacks be condemned by the European Union, stressing the need for the EU to uphold international law.
In a post on X, Petro accused the Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant of utilizing language about Gazans similar to what Nazis used regarding Jews.
In response, the Israeli occupation halted security exports to the country.
Ironically, even after he blatantly meant through his statement that Nazi tactics and language should not be repeated, the Israeli Foreign Ministry still managed to accuse him of being "anti-Semitic".
Read next: “Israel’s” weapon of choice: Anti-Semitism
Lior Haiat, a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said on Sunday that Colombia's Ambassador to "Israel", Margarita Manjarrez, had been summoned over Petro's "hostile and anti-Semitic statements," accusing him of supporting Hamas and "threatening the peace of the Jewish community in Colombia."
Petro was not the only leader to draw parallels between Nazis and the Israeli occupation forces. During a summit in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned "Israel" against implementing a siege on Gaza reminiscent of the Leningrad siege by Nazi Germany.
He expressed concerns that a ground offensive in Gaza would result in an unacceptably high number of civilian casualties.
The Siege of Leningrad stands as one of the darkest chapters of World War II, when German and Finnish forces, under the command of Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler, besieged the city of Leningrad in the Soviet Union. The attack resulted in an estimated 1.2 million casualties, including 140,000 children, over approximately 842 days.
