Colombian President Gustavo Petro has condemned Israeli bombing of Gaza, calling Israel’s war in the besieged Palestinian enclave, which has so far killed more than 9,000 people, a “genocide.”
Petro’s remarks were published in an article on At least 120 people are also missing, according to Gaza officials.
“This is called genocide, they are doing it to expel the Palestinian people from Gaza and take it over,” he wrote.
“The head of state who commits this genocide is a criminal against humanity,” Petro wrote. “Their allies cannot talk about democracy.”
If you call Genocidio, it’s about ransacking the Palestinian people of Gaza and taking them over.
The head of state who committed this genocide is a criminal against humanity. Your aliases cannot shame democracy. pic.twitter.com/WjRpGKBKPs
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) November 1, 2023
Petro’s comments came a day after Colombia, as well as Chile, which has the largest Palestinian population in Latin America, recalled their ambassadors to Israel to condemn Israeli bombing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric invoked to justify this decision the “unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law” committed by Israel.
Bolivia has completely severed ties with Israel due to the bombing and siege of Gaza and increasing civilian casualties. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called on Israel to end its bombing of Gaza.
“We are witnessing for the first time a war in which the majority of the dead are children,” Lula wrote on X. “Stop! For the love of God, stop!
Argentina, home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community, condemned the Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp, saying: “Nothing justifies the violation of international humanitarian law,” while also calling for release of captives held by Hamas. the group that rules Gaza.
Peru and Mexico slammed the Israeli attacks on Wednesday. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying: “Peru condemns and will continue to condemn violence, wherever it comes from. »
Mexican diplomat Alicia Buenrostro, speaking at a U.N. emergency special session on Gaza, called on “occupying power” Israel to cease its claims to Palestinian territories, pleading for a two-way solution States.
“This must stop,” she said, adding that Mexico would increase its aid to Palestinian refugees.
The three countries called on Hamas to release its captives. Argentina and Peru have said their countries’ nationals were killed in the conflict, while Mexico says it has nationals among those kidnapped.
Israel expects support
Israel responded to these diplomatic moves by demanding that Chile and Colombia instead condemn Hamas.
“Israel expects Colombia and Chile to support the right of a democratic country to protect its citizens and to call for the immediate release of all those kidnapped, and not to align with the Venezuela and Iran to support Hamas terrorism,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. .
Meanwhile, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, criticized Bolivia, Chile and Colombia on Wednesday, accusing them of siding with “terrorists” and being “hostile toward Israel “.
Arab countries, including those at peace with Israel, also express growing unease with the war.
Jordan has recalled its ambassador from Israel and asked him to stay out of the country until the war and the “humanitarian catastrophe” it is causing stops.
Some United Nations officials have said the Israeli bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp could be considered a war crime.
Craig Mokhiber, a top U.N. human rights official who resigned over the weekend over the organization’s response to the Gaza war, called on the U.N. to apply the same standards to Israel as when assessing human rights violations in other countries around the world. world.
Mokhiber, who was director of the New York office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote in his October 28 resignation letter that Israel’s military actions in Gaza were a “classic genocide” and accused the UN of “failing to act” once again. , referring to previous genocides in Bosnia, Rwanda and Myanmar.
“The current general massacre of the Palestinian people, rooted in a colonialist ethno-nationalist ideology, in continuation of decades of systematic persecution and purification, based entirely on their status as Arabs… leaves no doubt,” Mokhiber said in his letter to UN human rights chief Volker Turk.
More than 3,700 Palestinian children were killed in 25 days of fighting, as bombings drove hundreds of thousands from their homes and food, water and fuel became scarce.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza in greater numbers over the weekend after three weeks of intensive air raids that demolished entire neighborhoods and drove more than half of the territory’s 2.3 million residents from their homes.
The war, Gaza’s fifth and by far deadliest, began when Hamas launched a bloody incursion into southern Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 men, women and children. Around 240 people were captured, according to Israel.
