In Colombia, as thousands of demonstrators marched to support government reforms on May 1, 2024, International Workers’ Day, President Petro joined the Bogota rally. He announced that his country was breaking diplomatic relations with Israel as of Thursday, May 2.
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In Bogota’s Bolivar Square, the city’s main square, thousands of demonstrators wave the Colombian flag and signs in favor of labor and health reforms. President Gustavo Petro joined the procession a few meters before arriving on the square and going on stage, reports our correspondent in Colombia, Najet Benrabaa.
“ Here, before you, the government of change, the President of the Republic informs that tomorrow diplomatic relations with the State of Israel will be severed, because of the government, of a genocidal presidentsays the Colombian president. We cannot accept the return of times of genocide, of extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our passivity. If Palestine dies, humanity dies. We will not let Palestine die, just as we will not let humanity die. »
“ The Colombian president had promised to reward Hamas murderers and rapists. Today he kept his promise », Reacted the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday Israel Katz, calling ” anti-Semitic » Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Hamas, for its part, described it as “ victory » Colombia’s severance of its diplomatic ties with Israel.
Support for South Africa’s proceedings at the ICJ
Gustavo Petro had already on February 20 accused Israel of committing a “ genocide » Palestinians in the Strip Gazathen expressing his “ full solidarity » with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva plunged into a diplomatic crisis for having drawn a comparison between the Israeli offensive and the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis. Brazil and Colombia support South Africa’s historic case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for alleged violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Gustavo Petro then announced that he would suspend the purchase of weapons manufactured by Israel, one of the main suppliers of the South American country’s security forces, reiterating his assertions concerning ” a genocide ”, underway in Gaza which “ recalls the Holocaust even if world powers do not like to recognize it “.
Debate of the dayCan Israel remain deaf to the calls of the international community?