Colombian President Gustavo Petro vows to cut diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza war, threatens to turn join South Africa’s petition to the International Court of Justice.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
The far-left president of Colombia threatened Wednesday to join South Africa’s petition to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, while pledging to end diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
In an address in the city of Bogota Wednesday, marking International Worker’s Day, President Gustavo Petro, former member of the M-19 terrorist organization, said that his government would end diplomatic relations with Israel Thursday.
“Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic announces that tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel…for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal,” Petro said.
Shortly afterwards, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to Petro’s comments on Twitter/X.
“History will remember that Gustavo Petro decided to side with the most despicable monsters known to mankind who burned babies, murdered children, raped women and kidnapped innocent civilians,” Katz tweeted.
Colombia, once an ally of the Jewish state, has over the last two years moved to curb ties with Israel.
Petro, a long-time Israel critic, accused Israel of Nazism following the October 7th Hamas invasion of the Jewish state, and threatened to expel Israel’s ambassador to Colombia.
In March, Petro again compared the State of Israel to Nazi Germany, and declared that his country would impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state.
“Asking for food, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Netanyahu. This is called genocide and is reminiscent of the Holocaust even if the world powers do not like to recognize it,” Petro wrote in Spanish on social media. “The world must block Netanyahu.”