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Bolivia to renew diplomatic ties with Israel

Bolivia’s interim government announced that it will renew diplomatic relations with Israel following an 11-year cessation of ties under the Morales regime.

By World Israel News Staff

Bolivian foreign minister Karen Longaric announced on Thursday that her nation will reestablish diplomatic relations with Israel.

Following the announcement Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz tweeted, “I applaud the Bolivian government’s announcement of its intention to renew relations with our country.”

Longaric serves as part of an interim government following the departure of Bolivian president Evo Morales, who fled to Mexico in November following election results that the Organization of American States (OAS) flagged due to forged signatures and data manipulation. Opposition factions also dismissed Morales’ purported victory as a fraudulent sham produced by rigged elections.

Bolivia cut off ties with Israel 11 years ago and Morales remained a vocal critic, declaring Israel a “terrorist state” following 2014’s Operation Protective Edge conflict with the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

“We worked to promote the renewal of relations directly and also through the Brazilian President and the Brazilian Foreign Minister with whom I spoke on the subject at the UN Conference,” Katz posted to Twitter on Thursday evening “The departure of the president hostile to Israel, Morales, and his replacement with an Israeli-friendly government, allows the process to proceed.”

Since Morales’ departure, Bolivia has broken off ties with socialist dictators in Venezuela and Cuba and eliminated all ambassadors, with the exception of one in Peru and another in the Vatican, Times of Israel reported.