In response to the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, several South American countries have lodged diplomatic protests against Israel.
Bolivia’s leftwing government, in a bold move, decided to sever diplomatic ties with Israel, citing allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip as the reason.
According to CNN news report, the decision to cut ties was announced by María Nela Prada, a minister in President Luis Arce’s administration.
“We demand an end to the attacks on the Gaza Strip which have so far claimed thousands of civilian lives and caused the forced displacement of Palestinians,” the minister told reporters in her country’s de facto capital, La Paz.
Colombia’s leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, also recalled his country’s ambassador, condemning Israel for what he termed a “massacre of the Palestinian people.”
Petro had previously drawn criticism for comparing Israel’s actions to those of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.
In a similar move, Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, announced the recall of the country’s ambassador in Tel Aviv to discuss what he referred to as “unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law” committed by Israel in Gaza.
Boric pointed to the high number of civilian casualties, particularly among women and children, as evidence of what he described as the “collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has voiced his disapproval of what he called the “recklessness” of Israel’s prime minister in wanting to destroy the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the innocent women and children who were the primary victims of the conflict.
“Just because Hamas committed a terrorist act against Israel, it doesn’t mean Israel has to kill millions of innocent people,” Lula added in another interview.
