BOGOTA: Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro on Monday compared Israel’s targeting of Gaza to the Nazi actions against Jews.

In reply to a statement by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announcing a “complete siege” of Gaza, Petro said: “This is what the Nazis said of the Jews.”

Writing on X, the Colombian president added that “democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to re-establish itself in international politics”.

He said Gallant’s wording amounted to “hate speech” which, if allowed to continue, “will only bring a holocaust”.

In a video message, Gallant announced Israel was “putting a complete siege” on the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million people, which he said meant “no electricity, no food, no water, no gas”.

Petro has published dozens of social media comments on the events since Saturday, provoking an acerbic exchange with Israel’s ambassador to Bogota, Gali Dagan, who urged Colombia to condemn the Hamas attack.

In his response, Petro said: “Terrorism is to kill innocent children, whether it be in Colombia or in Palestine,” as he urged the two sides to negotiate for peace.

Dagan then invited Petro to visit the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, which the president retorted he saw being “copied in Gaza”.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023