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BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced Wednesday that his government will suspend diplomatic relations with Israel, its longtime defense ally, making Colombia the largest country to sever ties amid the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/israel-hamas-war/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">war in Gaza</a>.

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, described Israel’s government and president as “genocidal.”

“If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we won’t let it die,” Petro said during a Workers’ Day celebration in the packed Plaza de Bolívar in the country’s capital.

Colombia, the third most populous country in Latin America and the most important U.S. ally in the region, joins Bolivia and Belize in taking the rare step of severing diplomatic ties with Israel. While many countries, including Colombia, had already withdrawn diplomats from Israel, few nations have gone so far as to suspend diplomatic relations.

Colombia in particular has long depended on Israel’s military support in its decades-long fight against armed guerrilla groups and drug traffickers. In the 1980s, Colombia purchased a fleet of Kfir jets that were crucial in its efforts to deplete its largest leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, before the country’s historic peace accords with the rebels in 2016. Colombia has also relied on an arsenal of Israeli-made weapons, in addition to Israeli training and intelligence support.

Aside from the United States, Israel is one of Colombia’s most important defense allies, said Juan Carlos Ruíz Vásquez, a professor at Colombia’s Rosario University and a former adviser to the country’s Defense Ministry. But those relations have deteriorated significantly under the leadership of Petro, who has frequently lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In late March, Petro invited world nations to sever diplomatic relations with Israel if it were to ignore a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/26/un-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-countries-vote/" target=_blank>cease-fire resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council</a>.

In February, Petro announced that his government would <a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-petro-israel-netanyahu-hamas-palestinian-59425fba3eee60114a3444d1c935364d" target=_blank>suspend purchases of weapons from Israel</a> after more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/01/gaza-aid-delivery-stampede-shots/" target=_blank>100 people were killed as they sought humanitarian aid</a> in Gaza City. In October, Petro ignited a fiery diplomatic spat with Israel after he compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to “the injustice that the Jewish people suffered by the Nazis in Europe,” in a social media post.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to Petro’s announcement on Wednesday in a <a href="https://twitter.com/Israel_katz/status/1785744051108495861" target=_blank>post on X</a>, calling the Colombian leader “an antisemitic president, full of hatred.”

The severing of diplomatic relations between the two countries will probably make it more difficult for Colombia to maintain its Israeli-made equipment. Colombia has also been unable to maintain its Russian-made equipment, particularly helicopters, ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

It could also hinder Colombia’s access to spare parts and servicing equipment, including software, said Adam Isacson, who leads the defense oversight program for the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy organization.

It’s unclear to what extent Israel has been sharing intelligence with Colombia in recent months. But Israel has for years served as an important intelligence partner for Colombia, Ruíz Vásquez said.

The relationship also has its dark past. In the 1980s, Israeli mercenaries were accused of training drug trafficking right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia. In many ways, Ruíz Vásquez said, Colombia has long “imported know-how” from Israel “in legal and illegal ways.”

<i>Cate Brown contributed to this report.</i>

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Indiana University, BA in journalism and Arabic 

Samantha Schmidt is The Washington Post's Bogotá bureau chief, covering all of Spanish-speaking South America. 

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