Colombian President Petro reveals South American country will cut diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza attacks

Colombian President Gustavo Petro revealed that he will cut diplomatic relations with Israel due to its military actions in the Gaza Strip.

The left-wing leader accused the Israeli government of committing ‘genocide’ in its war against Hamas during a speech following an International Worker’s Day march in Bogotá on Wednesday.

‘Tomorrow diplomatic relations with the State of Israel will be broken for having a government, for having a genocidal president,’ Petro said. ‘If Palestine dies, humanity dies and we are not going to let it die.’

Petro has previously criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but has not condemned Hamas’ actions.

He now seeks to join South Africa’s case of accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice

‘I believe that today all of humanity in the streets, by the millions, agrees with us and we with them,’ Petro said. ‘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 Colombian president’s remarks come as anti-Israeli protests have spread across United States college campuses, including Columbia University, where students and outsiders have set up encampments. 

About 300 arrests were made at Columbia and City College on charges including trespass, criminal mischief and burglary, Police Commissioner Edward Caban told a news conference Wednesday.

‘Public safety was a real concern, especially after the protesters escalated the situation by breaking and entering into a university building, and the NYPD was called in to do their job,’ he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting with Netanyahu on Wednesday to go over plans for a ceasefire in Gaza, securing the release of hostages and increasing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

Petro’s most recent warning to Israel was in March, when he said he would cut ties with the county if it did not comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 

Israel responded that it will not give in to any pressure or threat.

On February 29, Petro announced that the Colombia would stop purchasing weapons from Israel after more than 100 people were killed in Gaza while getting food from Egyptian trucks delivering aid.

‘This is called genocide and is reminiscent of the Holocaust, even if the world powers do not like to recognize it,’ the president wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Colombia is the third country in Latin America to break relations with Israel after the start of the war on October 7, 2023 when Hamas launched an attack that left 1,170 people dead.

The Israeli response has left at least 34,500 dead, mostly women and children, in Gaza.

Bolivia severed relations in October, asserting that Israel was committing ‘crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people.’

Belize followed suit in November after questioning Israel for its ‘incessant indiscriminate bombings in Gaza that have killed 11,000 innocent civilians.’

Other countries such as Chile and Nicaragua have voiced their opposition to Israel but without breaking relations.