Latin American Leaders do what the West struggles to do: Criticise Israel
- Jemima Ajayi
- Nov 24, 2023
- 4 min read
Photo by Şeyma D.: https://www.pexels.com/photo/palestinian-flag-in-front-of-a-mosque-20858984/
Since the outbreak of the most recent escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas, one thing made immediately clear was the West’s almost complete consensus regarding Israel’s “right to defend itself”. The killing of around 1,200 Israeli and foreign nationals and the kidnapping of about 240 by Hamas on October 7 was deplorable and a response was of course to be expected. But can the term “defence” be used for a state that boasts one of the world’s most advanced militaries which has backing from some of the world’s most powerful nations? Can we still use the term “defence” as the current conflict approaches its second month claiming the lives of over 14,000 Palestinians – many of whom were children and displacing 1.7 million? Many words can be used to describe Israel’s actions, but “defence” is not one of them.
Before French President Emmanuel Macron publicly called for a ceasefire around the beginning of November, there were very few major political figures (other than former labour leader Jeremy Corbyn) in the West criticising Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. However, from across the Atlantic in Latin America, there are certain voices that have been ringing out in opposition to Israel, standing firmly with Palestine.
Colombia
Key to this opposition is Colombia’s Gustavo Petro – the country’s first ever left-wing president. Since October 7, Petro has been largely active on Twitter, using the platform as a stage to make his stance on the current conflict known. In one Tweet, posted on October 9, Petro likens comments made by Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, to “what the Nazis said about the Jews”. This is in response to the defence minister’s outlining of the plan to lay siege to Gaza in retaliation to the attacks carried out by Hamas 2 days prior. Gallant states that the Palestinian territory would be left with “…no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel…”.
In response to the president’s comments, Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced via Twitter that Israel would no longer be supplying arms to the South American country due to Petro’s “hostile and antisemitic statements”.
This social media exchange raises a key issue to the debate: is it antisemitic to compare Israeli policies that have oppressed the Palestinian people since 1948 to policies used to oppress the Jewish community in Nazi Germany? Or is it simply a historical comparison? For more on this topic, have a look at this article written for the Guardian by Michael Visontay, Commissioning Editor of the Australian Jewish publication PLUS61J.
Bolivia
A little further south of Colombia, Bolivia is another Latin American country that has taken bold strides in its rebuttal of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. On October 31, it was announced that the country would be breaking diplomatic ties with Israel in response to its “aggressive and disproportionate military offensive” in the Gaza Strip.
This is the second time that the country has broken ties with Israel – the last time was in 2009 under Evo Morales, its first indigenous president, in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza at that time. Ties were reinstated by right-wing interim president Jeanine Áñez in 2019.
According to the BBC, an Israeli official commented that Bolivia’s decision was a “surrender to terrorism”.
Other countries
Echoing the sentiments of the two countries above, Chile and Honduras have recalled their ambassadors to Israel in response to what Chilean president Gabriel Boric described as “unacceptable violations of International Humanitarian Law”. Meanwhile, in Brazil, president Luís Inacio Lula da Silva took to Twitter urging the Israeli state to “…Stop! For the love of God Stop!”
History matters
To better understand why the Latin American left is so vocally pro-Palestinian, it’s important to look back at certain historical periods that have shaped the region and its people. According to an article published by Al Jazeera, Cold War legacies offer an important background to understanding left-wing responses in the area. It was during this period that many US-backed military dictatorships were installed in various countries in the region, namely Chile, Guatemala, and Argentina just to name a few. In many of these instances, Israel played a key role as a provider of arms to support these regimes. Cutting ties with Israel in protest of US imperialism is something that has become a staple of the left in the region, with Cuba’s Fidel Castro being the first Latin American leader to do so in 1973.
In addition to the legacies of the Cold War, it could be said that many in the region sympathise with the Palestinian plight due to historical similarities: millions of indigenous as well as Afro-descendant Latin Americans have suffered displacement, massacres and systemic oppression since European colonists arrived at the end of the 15th century.
Now that a ceasefire deal has been agreed upon between Israel and Hamas (set to begin on the 23rd of November) we can only wonder if this could have come about sooner if more politicians were willing to speak out against Israel’s disproportionate military offensive that has claimed the lives of far more Palestinian civilians than its supposed Hamas targets.
Sources
- (5) xevt - xhvt on X: "#ÚltimoMinuto 🔴 "Bolivia decidió romper relaciones diplomáticas con el Estado de Israel", anuncia el vicecanciller, Freddy Mamani Machaca Vía: @AlertaMundial2 https://t.co/rDnykfvbdE" / X (twitter.com)
- (5) Lior Haiat 🇮🇱 on X: "Today, at the direction of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Ambassador Yonatan Peled, the Deputy Director-General for Latin America of the MFA, summoned the Ambassador of Colombia, Margarita Manjarez, to deliver a reprimand concerning the hostile and antisemitic statements against the… https://t.co/y1e6uQpL9y" / X (twitter.com)
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