September 19, 2024
The president of the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, is actively endangering his country’s Jewish community.
Jews around the world have experienced a horrific increase in antisemitism since the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel that killed over 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.
Despite strong U.S.-Colombia ties, Petro’s actions in the 11 months since October 7, including severing ties with Israel and amplifying antisemitic messages, contradict the U.S. commitment to combating antisemitism and threaten the U.S.-Israel alliance, leading to calls for a reevaluation of U.S. aid to Colombia.
Here are the five ways Petro has amplified antisemitic rhetoric and undermined longstanding U.S., Israel, and Colombian relations.
Colombia’s president has fanned the flames of hatred of Israel and Jews
In the wake of the October 7 attack, unlike many world leaders, Colombian President Gustavo Petro did not condemn the Hamas massacre but instead used it as an opportunity to criticize Israel.
“From a very young age, I studied the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and I know of the immense injustice that the Palestinian people have suffered since 1948,” he wrote on X. He linked a documentary and said it will show “why the Palestinian people live one of the worst injustices in the contemporary world.”
In another tweet on October 9, Petro engaged in Holocaust distortion - a form of antisemitism - comparing Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians to Nazi Germany’s policies towards the Jews and other groups.
Petro wrote, “I was already in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and now I see it copied in Gaza,” comparing the atrocities of the Holocaust concentration camps to Gaza. The same day, he also compared Israel’s response to the attacks and its plan to defend itself to the actions of the Nazis during World War II. “This is what the Nazis said about the Jews. Democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to re-establish itself in international politics,” he wrote.
American Jewish Committee has strongly condemned Petro’s remarks, saying that his antisemitic rhetoric “can put Colombia’s Jews in danger at a time when their safety should be of paramount concern.”
Antisemitism has been on the rise, especially since October 7
Like across the world, antisemitism has been on the rise in Colombia, especially since the October 7 Hamas massacre.
Just days after October 7, the Israeli embassy in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, was the target of antisemitic hate when two hooded men spray painted a swastika on the building.
The embassy was again targeted with antisemitic graffiti, including slogans that equated Zionism with Nazism.
Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and religious extremists, including Hamas and other terrorist groups, use the swastika and other symbols to represent Nazi Germany and invoke the Holocaust. Such symbols are used to terrorize Jews and Israelis. It also sends a clear message: the murder of Jews is not only accepted, but it is celebrated, encouraged, and supported.
Ties with Israel have significantly deteriorated under Petro
President Petro has moved to sever ties with Israel and accused it of committing genocide. Click here to see why the genocide charge is false.
At a rally on May 1st, Labor Day in Latin America, he said, “Tomorrow, diplomatic relations with the State of Israel will be severed… for having a genocidal president.”
Petro’s decision ended seven decades of generally warm Israel-Colombia ties that go back to the early dates of the Jewish state. Over the decades, their relationship has been characterized by mutual cooperation, particularly in areas of defense, agriculture, and technology. Colombia has often sought Israeli expertise in counter-terrorism and military training, while Israel has provided assistance in agricultural development and innovation. Trade between the two nations had also grown steadily, encompassing sectors like pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agro-technology. Former president Ivan Duque opened a trade office in Jerusalem, recognizing the value Israel added to his country.
But amid Petro’s hostility, Israel had halted security exports. At the same time, Colombia also supported South Africa’s case brought to the International Court of Justice, which baselessly accused Israel of committing genocide.
Israel Katz, Minister of Foreign Affairs, responded to Petro’s decision to cut ties by saying Petro was “antisemitic and full of hatred.” Severing ties with Israel demonizes and delegitimizes the country as a sovereign and democratic nation. Israel is a country equal among other nations. It follows international law, promotes peace, and supports others around the world through trade, emergency rescue missions, and other humanitarian aid. Petro’s decision shows a clear bias, hostility, and hatred toward the only Jewish state in the world.
Dismantling longstanding warm relations with the Jewish community
The decision by Petro to sever ties with Israel is undermining longstanding warm relations between the government of Colombia and the Jewish community.
Remarking on the decision, the Confederation of the Jewish Communities of Colombia said: We deeply regret the announcement by President Gustavo Petro to break diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, a friendly country that finds itself in a war situation it never wanted, and that has 133 of its children, including a Colombian, kidnapped for more than 200 days by the Hamas terrorist organization that seeks its destruction.
The Jewish people have been present in Colombia since the arrival of Europeans in South America at the end of the fifteenth century.
In 1492, through the Edict of Granada and the Inquisition’s establishment, Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand either exiled Spanish Jews or forced them to convert if they wanted to remain in the country. Many Sephardic Jews left for other European countries and Arab lands, while others fled to the Americas, including Colombia. Almost all newcomers eventually assimilated, and Jewish life pretty much disappeared.
The early 20th century witnessed significant Jewish immigration to Colombia, primarily due to the rise of antisemitism in Europe. Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe and Sephardic Jews from the Ottoman Empire and North Africa arrived in Colombia, settling mainly in Bogotá, Barranquilla, and Medellín.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Colombia, like many other countries, became a destination for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. However, Colombia's immigration policies were not always welcoming, and many Jews faced significant obstacles in gaining entry. Despite this, several thousand Jewish refugees did manage to settle in Colombia during this time.
After World War II, the Jewish community in Colombia continued to grow and consolidate. Although relatively small, it was well-organized and active in various aspects of Colombian society.
Colombia was among the first Latin American countries to recognize the State of Israel in 1948, following its founding. Diplomatic relations were officially established in 1957, marking the beginning of formal ties between the two nations.
Today there are an estimated 5,500 Jews in Colombia, mainly in the capital city of Bogota, with a vibrant and thriving Jewish institutional life and participation in many sectors of society.
Trilateral Colombia – Israel ties on the line
Colombia and the U.S. have developed strong collaborative ties based on shared values and interests, including the fight against organized crime and terrorism and the strengthening of democracy and rule of law. Colombia is one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid.
President Petro has not only shunned his country’s commitment to fighting antisemitism after adopting the IHRA Working Definition in 2022 but is consistently amplifying hateful messages through social media, has not denounced Hamas’ massacre and hostage-taking, and severed official ties with the world’s one Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.
Given that all this contradicts the U.S. whole of society’s commitment to confronting antisemitism domestically and abroad and undermines the U.S.-Israel ironclad strategic alliance, the U.S. government should seriously reconsider the scope of its ties with Colombia, including economic aid, which is a privilege afforded to nations with common principles and aims.
