The controversy is rooted in the comparison made by the president of Colombia a few days ago to the Holocaust. “Gaza today appears to be destroyed or more like the Warsaw ghetto after, in response to the Jewish and socialist uprising in that concentration camp, it was destroyed by Nazi barbarism,” he said.
His words created controversy not only in the Jewish community, but in the United States, where he was urged to openly reject the actions of Hamas. “We were shocked to see the president (…) comparing the Government of Israel to Hitler’s genocidal regime,” said the country’s North American ambassador to combat anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt.
The Republican congresswoman launched a new ‘dart’ at Petro
“Once again the president of Colombia is wrong and shows his ignorance. He compares the Jews to the Nazis and that the invasion of Gaza, of Israel, which is in defense (…), is like the Holocaust. In again, Mr. Petro was vague. “Jews want to live in peace with the Palestinians,” he said.
The lawmaker accused Hamas of seeking to “wipe the State of Israel off the face of the Earth.” Mr. Petro does not realize (that) (the country led by Benjamin Netanyahu) is the only democracy in the Middle East and that it has many enemies: Hezbollah in the north, Hamas in Gaza and Syria,” he continued.
Salazar questioned why other Arab countries are reluctant to offer aid to the Palestinians, even though the civilian population is also directly facing the effects of the war. In particular, the Republican aims to close the Gaza border with Egypt, a hopeful point for access to humanitarian aid.
Ambassador Murillo asked to respect Petro
“The depth and breadth of our relationship must be sufficient to overcome the insulting and emotional language that compromises the dignity of the Office of the President of Colombia and of President Petro himself,” reads the initial part of the note.
Murillo added that he must “respectfully insist that the public discourse on these issues must, at least, be conducted with the due respect and caution. given to any major bilateral partner.”
This Friday, President Petro approved his position on the conflict in the Middle East and, recognizing that the country is under tension, assured that the deaths in Palestine (estimated at about 4,000) have reached the killings of young people on Colombia.
“The way in which sectors of the people themselves praised this massacre is based on making people think that those who die are terrorists, that is, a type of bad people who deserve to die, less than human. (. ..) If the massacre of Palestinians is visible, the massacre of Colombians is also evident,” he said.
So far, the development in that part of the world has left about 1,400 dead in the land of Israel and 4,137 in Palestine.
