President of Colombia Defends His Criticism of 'Israel' Amidst United States' Antisemitism Allegations

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, defended his position against the Israeli genocide of Palestinians amid the United States’ allegations of antisemitism against him.

In response to the allegations made by the US special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, the Colombian president reiterated that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and saying that is not anti semitic.

“The US does not direct our foreign policy,” President Petro wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday, March 7. “Despite our differences, we find common paths. We do not implore, we dialogue.”

Los EEUU no manejan nuestra política exterior. Desde nuestras diferencias encontramos caminos comunes de tú a tú. No imploramos, dialogamos. En Palestina hay un genocidio y lo hace Netanyahu; denunciarlo no es antisemitismo, es simplemente humanidad. https://t.co/HEcAitaPjd
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 8, 2024

The Colombian president insisted on his previous positions against the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli regime in the Gaza Strip, and stressed that “in Palestine there is an ongoing genocide” committed by the regime of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Condemning it is not antisemitism, it is simply humanism,” he stressed.

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On Thursday, at a US Capitol Hill hearing, Lipstadt repudiated Petro’s statements about Israel’s crimes in Gaza and called on him to condemn the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas.

At that hearing, Lipstadt also claimed that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Petro were “out of line,” and threatened them that “if they want to work closely with the United States, it [criticizing Israel] is not in their best interest.”

Since the escalation of the Israeli regime’s attacks on the Gaza Strip starting from October 7, 2023, the governments of Brazil and Colombia have condemned the Israeli atrocities, and have recalled their ambassadors to Israel for consultation in protest against the Zionist regime’s atrocities in Gaza, which have so far left more than 30,800 civilians dead.

(HispanTV)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/DZ