Netanyahu asks Petro to intercede for the Hamas hostages, among whom there is a Colombian

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a letter to the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, in which he asks him to intercede for the 136 people who are still being held by Hamas since last October 7, among whom is a Colombian citizen.

In the letter, dated January 11 but released this Thursday, Netanyahu assures that both countries have the “common cause” of fighting for the release of those kidnapped during the armed group's war actions on Israeli soil and that precipitated a vehement response. armed force of that Government that has caused more than 25,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip in three months.

In the communication, the head of the Israeli Government recalls that three months have passed since the hostages were “brutally” kidnapped from their homes and a music festival, one of the scenes most affected by the Hamas incursion in October.

He also claims that many of those kidnapped have seen their loved ones being “raped, mutilated, tortured and horribly massacred before their eyes.”

Among those kidnapped, Netanyahu continues, is the Colombian Elkana Bohbot, who, according to him, has been denied assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross, like the rest of the kidnapped people.

Netanyahu's text is, furthermore, a presentation by the prime minister in which he reiterates that Iran has supported Hamas for many years without this having meant "international censorship", as is the case with Qatar and Turkey, which, he says, give refuge to the leaders of that group who undertake “a campaign of terror against Israel.”

He also claims that the Red Cross has been “unacceptably passive” in the requests of Hamas hostages and has avoided pointing out the group's culpability for “violating the most fundamental norms of civilized conduct.”

Likewise, he calls to fight against “terrorism”: “Any pressure that can be exerted with that objective [the release of the hostages], especially against Iran, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the Red Cross, will be invaluable.” and will help save innocent lives.”

Less than a month before Hamas' incursion into Israel, Petro spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where, apart from insisting on the seriousness of the world's climate crisis, he mentioned the need to open two peace negotiation tables, one for Ukraine and the other for Palestine, a request that he extended to the entire organization.

“What is the difference between Ukraine and Palestine, isn't it time to end both wars?” he asked himself at the time.

He also said: “The same reasons that are expressed to defend [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky are the same reasons that should be defended Palestine.”

Netanyahu's letter represents, at the same time, a break due to the conciliatory tone and a new chapter in the tensions that Israel and Colombia have maintained after the offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Since the conflict in that region of the Middle East worsened, President Petro has been one of the Latin American leaders who has denounced the excesses of the Israeli Army, which the Netanyahu Government has justified as an action of legitimate defense.

A few hours after the tension escalated in October, and in the middle of an exchange of messages on Twitter with the Israeli ambassador to Colombia, Gali Dagan, Petro wrote: “I was already in the Auschwitz concentration camp and now I see it traced on Loop".

The comment caused rejection from the Jewish community.

Days later, on October 15, Israel announced that it was stopping sending security teams to the country following Petro's comments.

It was Dagan himself who reported the decision and, furthermore, that the Colombian ambassador to Israel, Margarita Manjarrez, had been called by the Israeli Foreign Ministry for a reprimand in which she was told that the president's words "stoke anti-Semitism, affect representatives of the State of Israel and threaten the peace of the Jewish community in Colombia.”

Petro responded, already referring to Israel's actions in Gaza as “genocide”: “If foreign relations with Israel have to be suspended, we suspend them.

We do not support genocides.

"The president of Colombia is not insulted."

Petro's criticism of Israel, however, has not been limited to social media or Colombia's borders.

On the contrary, he has reiterated his positions in several of the largest forums of world geopolitics.

At COP28, the climate summit held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) at the end of 2023, the president said: “Let's imagine a fusion, a combination of facts: the projection of the climate crisis in five or ten years and the current genocide of the Palestinian people.

Are these events disconnected or can we look there at a mirror of the immediate future?”

He also announced the opening of a Colombian embassy in Ramallah, the Palestinian administrative capital, in the West Bank, and anticipated that he would ask the United Nations to incorporate Palestine as a full member.

On the other hand, the Colombian Government has supported the complaint that its South African counterpart presented on January 11 before the UN International Court of Justice, in which it accuses the Israeli Executive of inciting genocide in Gaza.

According to South Africa, it is the “first genocide in history where its victims record their own destruction live in a desperate and so far vain attempt to get the world to do something.”

While Israel rejected the accusations, Colombia supported them: “South Africa's demand is a brave step in the right direction,” reads a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

This Friday, that Court decides whether to impose precautionary measures that may include the cessation of the Israeli offensive in the Strip.

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