May 13, 2024
photo: blu radio/ afp
“I am not a supporter of Hamas, because I am a supporter of republican, plebeian and secular democracy,” wrote Colombian President Gustavo Petro in one of the two messages he published on Saturday in response to Netanyahu’s remarks.
The president made these statements Saturday, May 11, in his account on the social network X, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as an “anti-Semitic supporter of Hamas”
“Semites should not be architects of genocide because they suffered it. Just as the genocide of the Jewish people in Nazi Europe is inadmissible, so is the current genocide against the Palestinian people,” said the president.
A few hours later, Petro continued his criticism and spoke directly to the Israeli prime minister, writing on the same platform: “Mr. Netanyahu, you will go down in history as a conductor of genocide. Dropping bombs on thousands of innocent children, women and elderly people does not make you a hero. You stand alongside those who killed millions of Jews in Europe. A genocide is a genocide no matter if you have a religion or not. Try at least to stop the massacre”.
Petro’s rejoinder, the latest diplomatic escalation between the heads of state of the two countries, came after Netanyahu wrote on his X account on Saturday that “Israel will not be lectured by an anti-Semitic supporter of Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that massacred, raped, mutilated and burned alive 1,200 innocent people on October 7. Shame on you, President Petro!”.
These comments by the Israeli Prime Minister were in reference to Petro’s remarks just the day before, when the Colombian President assured that Netanyahu would not stop his “genocide” in Gaza, in the midst of the Hebrew state’s preparations to start its ground offensive in Rafah, and that therefore an arrest warrant against him by the International Criminal Court was necessary.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry also objected to what it characterized as “false accusations” by Netanyahu, “Hamas has committed barbaric actions. Colombia does not sympathize with this type of groups and strongly condemns their violence and has repeatedly demanded the release of the hostages,” the diplomatic agency stated in a press release.
Petro, who since the beginning of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to the attack against the Hebrew state on May 7 has been one of the world leaders most critical of the actions of Netanyahu’s government, announced on May 1 the breaking of diplomatic relations with Israel.
“Today humanity, in all the streets, agrees with us. The era of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our humanity, cannot return. If Palestine dies, humanity dies and we are not going to let it die”, said the Colombian president in his speech announcing the decision.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English