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Amid war on Gaza, Colombia says Israel’s ambassador must ‘apologize and leave’

Monday, 16 October 2023 7:06 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 October 2023 7:24 PM ]

Colombian President Gustavo Petro. (Photo by AFP)

Colombia has said Israel’s ambassador must leave the country after President Gustavo Petro censured the regime for crimes against the Palestinians of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva said on Monday that Gali Dagan should “at a minimum, apologize and leave” after he criticized President Petro’s remarks.

The foreign minister took to social media to slam the “rudeness” of Israel’s response to Petro. “Shame,” he posted online.

The Israeli regime on Sunday said Colombia’s Ambassador Margarita Manjarrez had been summoned over President Petro’s statements, in which he likened Israelis to “Nazis” due to their brutality in Gaza.

“If we have to suspend foreign relations with Israel, we will suspend them. We do not support genocides,” Petro said.

“The president of Colombia will not be insulted,” he said after Israel decided to cut arms exports to Colombia over Petro’s “hostile and anti-Semitic statements.”

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, Petro has voiced solidarity with the Palestinians in numerous comments on X.

Petro has said Israel must cease its systematic attacks on civilians and genocide, urging the European Union to abide by international law and condemn the crimes of Israel.

Petro has also vowed that Colombia will send humanitarian aid to Gaza.

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm deep into the territories occupied by the Israeli regime in reaction to the recurring desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds as well as intensified Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians of the occupied West Bank.

Israel has so far killed more than 2,800 Palestinians in Gaza.