Leftist Chilean President Rejects Israeli Ambassador

Left-wing Chilean President Gabriel Boric sparked a major diplomatic crisis on Thursday by refusing to accept the credentials of Israel’s new ambassador to Chile, Gil Artzyeli.

Chilean media reported that Boric refused to receive Artzyeli at the presidential residence, Palacio de la Moneda, for a formal introduction ceremony. Artzyeli was actually at the palace with his credentials in hand when he was told by Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola that Boric would not see him.

Chilean officials initially presented the snub as retaliation against Israel for the death of a 17-year-old Palestinian during a raid that morning on the outskirts of Jenin. The raid was prompted when two other Palestinian men allegedly killed an Israeli soldier in a gun and bomb attack on a military checkpoint.

The Chilean Foreign Ministry seemed to backpedal a little under pressure, clarifying later on Thursday that Artyzeli’s introductory meeting with Boric was merely postponed until October because “today is a very sensitive day due to the death of a minor in the Gaza Strip.”

“Regarding the reason for the cancellation of the appointment, the death of a minor in the West Bank, in the Middle East there is a conflict that has lasted for 100 years, and there are victims on both sides. The new Middle East is in an era of peace,” Artzyeli told reporters.

“For me, it was a rather awkward incident this morning, but being an Israeli and a Jew, my people have been through worse in the last 4,000 years,” he said.

According to Artzyeli, he had a “long meeting of more than an hour” on Thursday, during which Urrejola “repeatedly apologized to me and the State of Israel” for Boric’s behavior.

“For me, it was a rather awkward incident this morning, but being an Israeli and a Jew, my people have been through worse in the last 4,000 years,” the Israeli ambassador said.

Haaretz noted Boric’s snub of Artzyeli was especially petty because the incoming Israeli ambassador had made an “unusual move” on Tuesday by congratulating Chile and the Palestinian Authority for signing an agricultural agreement.

Felicito a @GobiernodeChile por acuerdo de @AGCICHILE con su homóloga palestina.
Un paso positivo, la cooperación es clave para promover prosperidad y bienestar humano. @Minrel_Chile @ynetespanol pic.twitter.com/sAFbqc70vp

— Gil Artzyeli (@Gil_Artzyeli) September 13, 2022

Artzyeli generously hailed the agreement as a “positive step” toward “progress, prosperity, and human development.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry felt obliged to temper his exuberance a bit by noting that the agreement Artzyeli endorsed referred to the “State of Palestine,” but the Israeli government official recognizes no such “state.”

“We support economic actions that benefit the Palestinian population, but this in no way implies our recognition of a Palestinian state. The fact that you quote something labeled by the Chilean authorities does not mean that you automatically stand behind it,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Friday called Chile’s behavior “puzzling and unprecedented,” and summoned Chilean ambassador Jorge Carvajal for a reprimand. 

“This seriously harms the relations between the two countries,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The Jewish community in Chile, which has been nervous ever since the stridently anti-Israel Boric’s election last year, criticized the president for creating a “serious diplomatic incident.”

“It is an offense to the friendship of more than 70 years between Chile and Israel. We expect rectification,” a statement from the community said on Thursday.

The American Jewish Committee called Boric’s actions a “violation of diplomatic protocol” and demanded his immediate apology, lest he cause “irreparable harm to the Chile-Israel relationship” and “his country’s global reputation.”

“President Boric boycotts bilateral relations, improvising a decision at the moment the ambassador was in the Foreign Relations Ministry. Situations like these demonstrate a profound disdain for the more than 70 years of friendship between Chile and Israel,” said the 21 members of a Chile-Israel interparliamentary group in a letter on Friday.

Chilean opposition politicians said Boric caused a “very serious” incident by violating diplomatic protocol for “political reasons.”

“There is now a huge commotion in the government and the foreign ministry, we need to see how to fix this problem,” an unnamed Chilean diplomat conceded to local reporters.

Boric’s snub of the Israeli ambassador was not without its fans, as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas both praised his actions on Friday.

“We welcome the Chilean President’s position, which is in line with international law and resolutions, and we appreciate this position aimed at applying pressure on the Israeli government to stop its ongoing daily crimes against our people,” an adviser to the Palestinian foreign minister said.