Colombian President Gustavo Petro (photo above, Reuters/Luisa Gonzalez), who has not stopped posting comments on social media about the escalation of violence in the Middle East since Saturday, referred to “Nazis” and the threat of the “Holocaust” in the Gaza Strip, where Israel imposed an absolute blockade yesterday.
“This is what the Nazis said about the Jews. President Petros said on the
Countermeasures with the Israeli ambassador
This is what the Nazis said about the Jews. Democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to re-establish itself in international politics. Israelis and Palestinians are human beings subject to international law.
If this hate speech continues, it will only lead to a holocaust. https://t.co/9missB9LwN
-Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 9, 2023
“Israelis and Palestinians are human beings according to international law. This hate speech, if it continues, will only bring about the Holocaust,” the Colombian president added.
Since Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on Saturday, which killed at least 800 people on the Israeli side, Mr. Petros has sent about two dozen messages to the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
Publications sparked bitter accusations with the Israeli ambassador to Bogota, Gali Dagan.
“We expect a country friendly to Israel to strongly condemn the terrorist attack against innocent civilians,” the ambassador said in an interview.
An invitation to… Auschwitz
In response, Mr. Petros responded to him yesterday, Sunday, saying: “Terrorism kills innocent children in Colombia as well as in Palestine (…) I ask Israel and Palestine to sit at the table and negotiate peace.”
The backlash continued on Monday, as Ambassador Dagan, speaking to Colombian radio station Blue, invited “President Pietro” to visit the Yad Vashem museum, adding, “We can also set up a station in Poland, to visit the camp (…) from Auschwitz.”
“I actually went to the Auschwitz concentration camp and now I see it being repeated in Gaza,” Gustavo Pietro responded via X.
I was actually in Auschwitz concentration camp and now I see it replicated in Gaza. https://t.co/DfuzwQSsZu
-Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 9, 2023
Unknown assailants painted graffiti, including swastikas, on the Israeli embassy in Bogotá, according to photos published by the press. “This is horrific and must be condemned,” Dagan said.
Yesterday morning, dozens of people gathered in front of the embassy to show support for Israel.
Israel supporters demonstrate in the Colombian capital, Bogota (Photo: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters)
Two Colombians are missing
According to the Israeli ambassador, two Colombians are among those missing after the attack on a concert in the early hours of Saturday night near the border with the Gaza Strip, in which the death toll approaches 250 people.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry said it had received “requests for assistance in locating two Colombians.”
On Saturday, he condemned in a statement “terrorism and attacks against civilians” in Israel and expressed his “solidarity with the victims and their families.”
But yesterday, the link to that ad was removed and a new ad was published in its place without the word “terrorism,” with Colombian diplomacy expressing its “condemnation” of “targeting civilians.”
Source: Accuracy
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