Bolivia cuts ties with Israel over Gaza War, three countries pull envoys

Bolivia cut diplomatic ties with Israel on Wednesday to protest the Gaza war, while two other Latin American countries, Chile and Columbia, recalled their ambassadors, as did Jordan.

The step reflects Bolivia’s “repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip,” Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said at a press conference.

Bolivia is among the first countries to break diplomatic relations with Israel over the war, which was sparked when Hamas infiltrated into southern Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking at least 240 hostages.Hamas has said more than 8,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in war-related violence.

The actions taken by Bolivia and the other three other countries run counter to a groundswell of support for Israel among Western countries whose leaders have made solidarity visits to Israel since the war began, including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

US, Europe continue to back Israel

The concern those leaders have expressed for Palestinians in Gaza has been coupled with deep condemnations of Hamas and concern for the larger regional implications given Iran’s support for the terrorist group.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to arrive in Israel later this week for what will be his second visit since the start of the war.

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly on Wednesday posted on X, formerly Twitter: “How can there be peace when Hamas is committed to the eradication of Israel?”

The Foreign Ministry was outraged over Bolivia’s move and said it had “surrendered to terrorism and the regime of the Ayatollahs in Iran” and “aligned itself with the terrorist organization Hamas,” moves that are a testament to its values.“Since the change of power in Bolivia, the relations between the countries have anyway been devoid of content,” the Foreign Ministry added.

Bolivia cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 under the government of leftist former president Evo Morales, also in protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

In 2020, the government of right-wing interim president Jeanine Anez reestablished ties.

The IDF attacks on Gaza are a “massacre of the Palestinian people,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote on X.Bolivia and Chile have called for passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza and have accused Israel of violating international law.

“We reject the war crimes being committed in Gaza,” Bolivian President Luis Arce said Monday on social media. “We support international initiatives to guarantee humanitarian aid, in compliance with international law.”

Israel took Columbia and Chile to task for recalling their ambassadors, saying citizens of Latin American countries such as Colombia and Chile had been victims.

Israel is fighting “a war that was imposed upon it,” a “war against a terrorist organization that uses the citizens of the Gaza Strip as human shields, commits war crimes and crimes against humanity and violates the human rights of the citizens of Gaza and the citizens of Israel,” the Foreign Ministry said.

It called on “Colombia and Chile to explicitly condemn the terrorist organization Hamas, which murdered and kidnapped children, women, the elderly and babies.”

Israel “expects Colombia and Chile to stand by it, to support the right of a democratic country to protect its citizens, to call for the immediate release of all the captives, and not to align with Venezuela and Iran, which support Hamas terrorism,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Jordan’s envoy was recalled because the war had created an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, in part because Israel had severely restricted the flow of food, water, and medicines into Gaza.”

Jordan was stepping up diplomatic efforts to pressure Israel to end the war, which brought “dangerous risks” of conflict spreading across the region and threatening global peace, he said.