President Gustavo Petro and his position towards Israel and the Hamas war will once again be the subject of debate in the United States. This time on behalf of a hearing convened by the House of Representatives subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere this Thursday to talk about the “agents of anti-Semitism in Latin America”.
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In fact, that was the title given to the hearing by Republican legislator María Elvira Salazar, who as president of this subcommittee is in charge of scheduling this type of meeting and inviting the witnesses called to appear.
In his announcement, and under that title, Salazar also includes a photo of President Petro with the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, and the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce.. These last two, like Petro, have publicly and in harsh terms questioned Israel's actions in Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack in October last year, where they murdered almost 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.
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Petro, as remembered, was one of the few world leaders who refused to openly condemn Hamas for the attack against civilians.. Furthermore, when Israel began its campaign of retaliation and total blockade of Gaza, the Colombian president equated it with the Nazism of Adolf Hitler in Germany, cataloged Gaza as a concentration camp and insinuated that this “policy of hate” would lead to a new Holocaust.
At the timethese statements earned him strong criticism not only from Salazar and other US congressmen but also from the State Department..
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“We were shocked to see Colombian President Gustavo Petro compare the Israeli government to Hitler's genocidal regime. We strongly condemn President Petro's statements and ask him to condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, for its barbaric murder of men, Israeli women and children,” said Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, head of the office of the State Department's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism (SEAS) on October 12.
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Petro's comments also caused tension with President Joe Biden himself within the framework of an invitation to Washington. in November to attend the launch of a new economic initiative for the region.
But the context has since changed. According to various accounts, Since October 7, Israel's attacks on Gaza and other territories have cost the lives of almost 30,000 people (many of them civilians). and the blockade unleashed a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions.
Although the administration has continued to support Israel, its tone has become more critical and it is now advocating a ceasefire. Since last week, he began operations to drop food from the air to the inhabitants of the area and has put much of his great political effort into reaching an agreement between the parties that allows the release of hostages, a partial cessation of hostilities and the flow of humanitarian aid.
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At the same time, Biden's support for Israel has begun to cost him dearly in certain sectors of the more liberal electorate. Especially in the state of Michigan, one of the states he has to win if he wants to retain the White House next November.
In that sense, it will be necessary to see this Thursday if Lipstadt maintains his critical tone towards Petro, which last week decided to cancel all purchases of military weapons from Israel after the death of more than 100 people who died while waiting for food supplies to the outskirts of Gaza City.
SERGIO GÓMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
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