Most Colombians disagree with severing of Israel ties, presumed presidential candidate says

Juan Manuel Galán, president of the New Liberalism party in Colombia and presumed candidate for the country’s presidency in 2026, visited Israel this week, shortly after Colombian President Gustavo Petro severed diplomatic relations with the country.

Galán spoke about the longstanding relations between Israel and Colombia. “The majority of the people of Colombia recognize this long tradition and history of relationship and friendship with the Jewish people and don’t agree with President Petro’s move,” he told The Media Line, referring to the severing of ties with Israel.

Colombia and Israel have had diplomatic relations since the 1950s and have made significant trade agreements as well. This year, on May 2, President Gustavo Petro announced that his country would sever the diplomatic relationship. Petro followed up last week by ordering the Foreign Ministry to open an embassy in Ramallah.

According to a poll published this month by Semana, a Colombian magazine, Galán is currently leading the polls for the 2026 presidential elections in the country. If elected, said Galán, he would prioritize re-establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel and returning to the historic ties between both countries. He would also focus on strengthening ties with the United States and with Colombia’s neighbors as part of his foreign policy approach.

While discussing the importance of ties with Israel for Colombia, Galán emphasized the significance of trade and security cooperation between the two countries. Regarding the latter, Galán said that it includes military security, police security, intelligence, and also Colombia’s National Strategic Air Defense’s dependence on cooperation with Israel. “We are now less secure as Colombians, with President Petro’s decision,” he continued.

He also mentioned his intention to take the ties to the next level regarding innovation. “Israel is one of the leading countries in the world on innovation, research, development, and science, and we need that, especially in water management, but also on other fronts.”

Galán noted that Israel invests more than 5% of its gross domestic product in innovation, research, and development, while Colombia invests only 0.2% of its GDP in that area.

Part of Galán’s aim on his visit was to better understand Israel’s international situation and identify opportunities in which Colombia and other nations could help improve it. He stressed that Israel is fighting a multi-front war, not only with Hamas, but also with Hizbullah on its northern border, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Shiite regime in Iran, and also the Houthis in Yemen.

“Colombians and the world have to understand that Israel is not fighting against the Palestinians, it is fighting against a terrorist and a radical fundamentalist organization that took power in Palestine,” Galán said, adding that it is critical to reach a sustainable peace in the region and mentioning Saudi Arabia as a fundamental part of that effort.

He believes that the international community should help Israelis and Palestinians to attain peaceful coexistence and to eliminate any fundamentalist approach in the leadership. “In our days, populist governments and authoritarian regimes are hurting the people, and hurting democracy,” he added.

After spending a few days in Israel, Galán shared his impressions. Israel has “a resilient population, with a strong sense of nation. I have a sense of solidarity and awareness of the responsibility people have to their country as well as a desire to end this war,” he said. He was impressed by the fact that Israelis around the world rushed to return to their country to help as soon as it entered the war, instead of fleeing.

“I think the majority of the Israeli people want to end the war and understand that the enemy is not the Palestinian people, but Hamas, which is extremist and terrorist. We must condemn [Hamas] for what they have done,” Galán continued.

During his visit, which was organized by Dr. Juan Carlos Alzate, Galán met with some families of the kidnapped. “We in my family endured kidnapping,” he said. “My aunt was kidnapped for seven months by Pablo Escobar. We understand the suffering that these families are enduring. So we need to help also in any way we can toward the liberation of the hostages,” Galán concluded.

A full transcript of The Media Line’s interview with Juan Manuel Galán follows:

The Media Line: We are here with Juan Manuel Galán, the founder of the neoliberalism party in Colombia, and he's also running for presidential elections in 2026. Juan Manuel is currently visiting Israel, meeting with diplomats, people from the government, the families of the kidnapped, and he's going today to the Gaza envelope to visit the affected communities as well. Juan Manuel, welcome to the Media Line.

Juan Manuel Galán: Thank you very much for the hospitality and for the opportunity to talk to the people here through your media, and I hope this trip can help us understand better the situation on the ground and what people are feeling and what people are expecting from the world so we can help move forward towards a sustainable peace.

The Media Line: President Gustavo Petro recently broke off diplomatic ties with Israel. Is this a popular move, or does the population favor the Jewish state?

Juan Manuel Galán: I think we have a long history of friendship with the Israeli people and the Israeli state. We have a free trade agreement. We have cooperation and security, military security, police security, intelligence, and also our national strategic air defense depends on this cooperation with Israel.

And besides that, between our two peoples, we have a long history of friendship and cooperation, and I think the people of Colombia, the majority of the people of Colombia recognize this long tradition and history of relationship and of friendship with the Jewish people and don't agree with the move that President Petro has taken of cutting diplomatic ties with Israel.

The Media Line: Your visit to Israel, coming so shortly after the breaking of relations, sends a message. What is it, and why now?

Juan Manuel Galán: Well, our message is to understand here in Israel and also talking to all the stakeholders and all the actors to understand what is happening and try to find a way to help in any way we can to move forward and to move towards a sustainable peace in Israel. I think that Israel is fighting a war, a multi-front war, not only with Hamas, but also with Hizbullah in Lebanon, also with the Shia in Iran, the Shia in Iraq, and also the Houthis in Yemen. So it's a multi-front war that Israel is fighting, and I think Colombians and the world has to understand that Israel is not fighting against Palestinians, it's fighting against a terrorist organization, a radical fundamentalist organization that took power in Palestine, and we need to move beyond that and try to find a way, for instance, with Saudi Arabia, which is fundamental in a strategic accord in the whole region, so Israel can have a sustainable peace with the Arab world.

The Media Line: You have been a member of the Colombian Senate for almost two consecutive decades. What has your experience taught you about the importance of the Israeli-Colombian ties?

Juan Manuel Galán: Well, I was a member of the Commission on Security and Defense in Colombia, and I voted in favor of the free trade agreement. I think we have two big fronts of cooperation with Israel. The security front, which is fundamental for intelligence, for having more capability to technological access in terms of fighting terrorism and facing the security challenges that we have in Colombia, but also in the technology front, and also in innovation.

I mean, Israel is one of the first countries in the world on innovation, research, development, science, and we need that, especially in water management, but also in other fronts, startup ideas. Israel is a leader, and Israel invests more than 5 percent of GDP in innovation, research, and development. We invest only 0.2 percent of our GDP, so we have a lot to learn and a lot to cooperate with Israel to develop our biodiversity and the management of water.

The Media Line: Can Colombia have relations with both Israel and the Arab nations, including the Palestinians? Would you join those nations that are expressing support for a Palestinian state?

Juan Manuel Galán: I think we have to try to help both people, the people of Israel and the people of Palestine, to find a way to coexist and to cooperate in the future, and to get rid of any fundamentalistic approach in the government, because in our days, populist governments, authoritarian regimes, and all this demagogic speech, it's hurting people, and it's hurting democracy. We need to believe in democracy, we need to fight for democracy, and the only way to do that is to be together and to try to find a common ground to cooperate.

The Media Line: According to recent polls, you are leading in popularity for the presidential elections of 2026. If you are elected, would you intend to reverse President Petro's policies toward Israel and return to the historic strong ties?

Juan Manuel Galán: I hope that we can work beginning of the new government on the 7th of August 2026, with a new government, to re-establish a full re-establishment of diplomatic relations, and to take this crisis as an opportunity to improve our ties in many, many sectors, not only on the security sector, because we are now less secure as Colombians with this decision that President Petro took of cutting diplomatic ties. But we need to re-establish the relation and reinforce the relation in many other fronts, especially innovation, research, development, water management, energy, sustainable energy, in all the sectors that we could cooperate.

The Media Line: How reversible are Petro's moves in this regard, and how will they be in two years that he has left in power?

Juan Manuel Galán: I think it's reversible, but to re-establish diplomatic ties between countries is not like a switch that you turn on and off. It takes time. But I hope all this long history and tradition of friendship that we have between our countries and between our peoples can speed up the re-establishment of relations.

The Media Line: What other foreign policies would you prioritize?

Juan Manuel Galán: Well, we have a big relation also with the U.S., and I think Biden's proposal on the Middle East, it's a right vision, especially putting in the center the relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia. So we can have a sustainable re-establishment of good relationship, friendship, between the whole Arab world and Israel. And also we want diplomatic policy in Colombia that takes the world as a whole, and we have good relations with every region in the world, but we have a special relation with the U.S., with our neighbors, and with Israel.

The Media Line: You re-founded your father's neoliberalism political party, and its members won major elections in Colombia's four main cities, including your brother, who is now Bogota's mayor. What does it say about the people's satisfaction with President Petro's performance so far?

Juan Manuel Galán: The elections on the 29th of October last year were a statement of the people in many, many regions of the country, especially in the main cities like Bogota, against President Petro's policies. And people want democracy. People don't want to go back to having everything controlled by the state, especially the health system.

The health system is a public-private partnership that has been successful for the last 30-plus years. And there's no point of going back to the times of corruption and of the times of the state controlling the whole health system. That doesn't work to cover the whole population.

And those policies, also the policy of undermining the moral and the logistical capacity of the military and the armed forces, is a wrong policy, because criminals are taking advantage of that policy of total peace, the so-called total peace policy of President Petro. And undermining institutions like the Constitutional Court, like the public national bank that fixes monetary policy, and the independence of powers is not what the people want. The people want solutions, and the people want a government that takes into account their problems and fixes their problems, and democracy also, because we have a long tradition as Colombians of a culture of democracy.

The Media Line: You have been in Israel for a few days now. What are your impressions so far?

Juan Manuel Galán: Well, my impression is a resilient population, a strong sense of nation. I mean, what nation in the world can say that when there is a war, everybody everywhere in the world that is Israeli is trying to come back to their country to help? I mean, in other countries, people try to go and not be in the country when there is a war.

So I have a sense of solidarity. I have a sense of nation. I have a sense of resilience.

And I have a sense of people that are aware of the responsibility they have with their country and trying to end this war. I think the majority of the Israeli people want to end the world, the war, but and understand that the enemy are not the Palestinian people, but Hamas, which is extremist and terrorist, and we have to condemn them. And we have to help in any way we can to end this war, but also to make a clear statement of what Hamas has done.

I had the enormous opportunity of meeting with the families of the kidnapped people. We in my family endure kidnapping. My aunt was kidnapped seven months by Pablo Escobar.

And we know, we understand the suffering that these families are enduring. So we need to help also in any way we can for the liberation of the hostages.

The Media Line: Thank you, Juan Manuel. It is really a pleasure to have you here at the Media Line.

Juan Manuel Galán: No, thank you. It's been a pleasure.