Colombian Leftist President Gustavo Petro Threatens to Cut Ties with Israel After Comparing It to Nazi Germany

Presidential candidate Gustavo Petro of the Historical Pact coalition speaks to his suppor
AP Photo/Fernando Vergara
Christian K. Caruzo

Colombian far-left president and former Marxist M19 guerrilla member Gustavo Petro threatened to cut ties with Israel on Sunday after the country suspended security exports to Colombia, a response to Petro comparing the government in Jerusalem to Nazi Germany.

In a series of posts on Twitter last week responding to the harrowing mass murder of Israeli civilians by the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas, Petro also claimed that Israel had turned Gaza into Auschwitz.

At press time, the October 7 Hamas massacres have left more than a thousand dead, and as of Monday, another 199 are confirmed hostages. Colombian couple Ivonne Rubio and Antonio Macías, who had been missing since the attack on the Supernova music festival in southern Israel that day, were found murdered by Hamas last week.

Petro not only failed to condemn Hamas’s heinous terrorist attack, but elicited widespread international condemnation for repeatedly comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

“If I had lived in Germany in 1933 I would have fought on the side of the Jews and if I had lived in Palestine in 1948 I would have fought on the Palestinian side,” Petro said on October 8. “Now the neo-Nazis want the destruction of the Palestinian people, freedom and culture. Now the democrats and progressives want peace and freedom for the Israeli and Palestinian people.”

“No democrat in the world can accept that Gaza be turned into a concentration camp,” Petro said on October 9 in response to Israel’s announcement of a military operation against Hamas. On that same day, Petro publicly claimed that he had visited the Auschwitz concentration camp and that he now sees it “mirrored in Gaza.”

Petro’s statements prompted the Israeli Foreign Ministry to announce on Sunday afternoon that it had summoned Colombian Ambassador to Israel Margarita Manjarrez following Petro’s “hostile and anti-Semitic statements.”

In the meeting, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haitat explained that the Colombian ambassador was informed that Israel received Petro’s statements with astonishment and that, as a result, Israel had decided to halt all security exports to Colombia.

Petro responded with a public rant on Twitter to the Israeli Foreign Ministry announcement.

“If foreign relations with Israel have to be suspended, we suspend them. We do not support genocides,” Petro asserted:

“You do not insult the President of Colombia,” Petro said.  

The far-left president continued by summoning “real solidarity” from Latin American countries for Colombia. 

“And if it is not capable, it will be the development of history that will say the last word as in the great war of the Chaco,” he said, referencing the territorial war between Bolivia and Paraguay that took place between 1932 to 1935.

“Neither the Yair Kleins, nor the Raifal Eithans will be able to say what is the history of peace in Colombia,” Petro continued. “They unleashed the massacre and genocide in Colombia.”

Klein, an Israeli citizen, was convicted in absentia by a Colombian court of having trained death squads in the 1980s. Eithan, also an Israeli citizen, is accused of having allegedly suggested to former Colombian President Virgilio Barco (1986-1990) that he should eliminate the political leaders of the leftist Unión Patriótica (UP) party.

Petro continued his message by demanding Israel help Colombia against Marxist terrorist insurgencies.

“Colombia as [Venezuelan independence hero Simón] Bolivar and [Colombian independence hero Antonio] Nariño taught us is an independent, sovereign, and just people,” Petro stated.

“Someday, the army and the government of Israel will ask for forgiveness for what their men did in our land unleashing genocide,” Petro continued. “I will embrace them and weep for the murder of Auschwitz and Gaza, and for the Colombian Auschwitz. Throughout the entirety of its history, the State of Israel, a Middle-Eastern country, has never waged war on Colombia, a South American country.”

Petro did not offer any explanation for the “genocide” that, according to him, was allegedly committed by Israel on Colombian territory nor did he explain when the alleged “genocide” took place.

Petro concluded his lengthy message by proclaiming that “Hitler will be defeated for the good of humanity, its democracy, peace and freedom of the world.” Petro did not clarify who or what he was referring to as “Hitler” in his message.

Petro added to his screed on Monday morning with a message denying that he supports Hamas. 

“I have been accused of being anti-Semitic and supporting Hamas. Ignorants,” Petro continued. “I cannot defend an organization that supports the fusion of Religion and State because we fight it in our own country, and because the vision of those who believe themselves to be a chosen people and a superior race leads to the massacre of other peoples.”

“They are resurrecting Hitler in the times of the climate crisis and he returns identical with his concentration camps and the complete destruction of the peoples,” Petro said. “Hitler is reborn as the practice of political and economic power over the very division of humanity, over its weaknesses and its fears. The fear of the different is the father of Hitler.”

Seconds before Petro published his new message, Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva published a message denouncing the “senseless arrogance” of Israel’s Ambassador to Colombia Gali Dagan against Petro. Leyva asserted that “at the very least” Dagan should ask for apologies and leave the country.

“Intelligence is fought with intelligence,” Leyva said. “There are States at stake”:

Last week, Dagan had a brief exchange with Petro on social media in which the latter urged Petro to condemn Hamas. Dagan also urged Petro to stop making comparisons between Gaza and a Nazi Germany concentration camp, inviting the Colombian president to visit Auschwitz with him. Dagan’s public invitation is what ultimately led Petro to claim that he sees Auschwitz “mirrored” in Gaza.

Colombia and Israel have maintained diplomatic ties since 1957. Israel is a longstanding supplier of security-related equipment, firearms, and technology to Colombia’s armed forces, all of which are instrumental in the country’s decades-long fight against the Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terrorist organizations – as well as guerrilla groups such as M19, which Petro belonged to as a youth.

Some of the equipment that Israel supplies Colombia includes the IMI Galil assault rifles and the Kfir combat aircraft. Israel has also supplied Colombia with heavy artillery equipment, anti-aircraft batteries, tank batteries, radars, and other types of surveillance equipment. Israeli security companies provided technical assistance to Colombia’s armed forces that led to the design and manufacture of the Colombian-made Arpía III and Arpía IV combat helicopters.

Both countries signed a Free Trade Agreement that went into effect in 2020. The treaty allows Colombia to easily export fuel, mineral oils, coffee, tea, spices, and electrical and image recording equipment to Israel, in addition to some more of the nation’s exports.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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