LatinNews Daily - 23 October 2023

Colombia: On 10 October Vedant Patel, the US State Department’s principal deputy spokesperson, criticised Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro for his comments following the attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the early hours of 7 October. In a joint discussion with the Colombian media outlets Blu Radio and Noticias Caracol, Patel affirmed that Petro’s comments “do not reflect what is actually happening” and denounced them as “not helpful”. The controversy stems from Petro reposting a video on social media on 9 October which shows Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Galant ordering a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, saying, “we are fighting against human animals”. In his response, Petro declared: “This is what the Nazis said about the Jews,” adding that “we cannot allow Nazism to be re-established in international politics”. In an initial response from the US, Deborah Lipstadt, the US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, tweeted that the US was “shocked” to see Petro “compare the Israeli government to Hitler’s genocidal regime”. She added that the US “strongly condemn[s] President Petro’s statements and call[s] on him to condemn Hamas”. The comments also prompted Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat to post on social media that Israel would halt its security exports to Colombia, adding that Petro’s comments were “hostile and antisemitic”. In response, Petro declared: “If we have to suspend relations with Israel we will suspend them. We do not support genocide.”

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