(Bogotá) Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday accused Israel of committing a “genocide” of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, expressing his “full solidarity” with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva plunged into a diplomatic crisis.
“In Gaza, there is a genocide. Thousands of children, women and elderly people are cowardly murdered. Lula only told the truth. Either the truth is defended or barbarism will destroy us,” Mr. Petro said on X.
“I express my complete solidarity with the president of Brazil,” insisted the Colombian leader.
On Sunday, President Lula caused a storm by accusing Israel of committing a “genocide” of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, drawing a comparison between the Israeli offensive and the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis.
After these statements, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Lula was now persona non grata in Israel “until he apologizes and withdraws his remarks.”
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.
The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented attack launched on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated in southern Israel. More than 1,160 people were killed, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to wipe out the Palestinian Islamist movement, launching an offensive that left 29,195 dead in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.
According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 30 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on October 7.
President Gustavo Petro, who agreed in January to mediate Israel’s request for the release of the hostages, called on Latin American countries to “unite to immediately end the violence in Palestine.”
At the end of 2022, the Colombian president also established a parallel between the Israeli army and the Nazis, triggering a diplomatic crisis which resulted in a meeting with the Israeli ambassador in Bogota.