Colombia’s Petro Criticizes Blockade and Siege of Gaza by Israel

Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized the blockade of Gaza ordered by Israel in response to the brutal attack suffered by the country from the Hamas-controlled strip. The siege ordered by the Defense Minister to Hamas, and by extension to the 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, involves cutting off electricity and blocking the entry of food and water into a region that has been living in isolation, surrounded, and besieged by Israeli forces for decades.

Petro has questioned the siege on Gaza and called for dialogue to overcome the violence unleashed over the weekend. The intensity of the events has not been seen in the region since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Uncomfortable position that overlooks crimes on one side

“No democrat in the world can accept that Gaza be turned into a concentration camp. Concentration camps are prohibited by international law, and those who establish them become perpetrators of crimes against humanity,” said the Colombian president in X, formerly known as twitter.

In recent hours, President Petro has made several statements on his social media accounts, criticizing Israel’s response and the imposed siege on the already complex Gaza Strip. He has faced criticism from various sectors, as many expected an open condemnation of Palestinian violence.

“I don’t find it fair for governments to get used to bombing children. God does not bomb children,” the president wrote in reference to the Israeli counterattack.

The “garden” of linking Nazis and Jews

Statements on social media have continued throughout Monday morning. In reference to the Israeli siege order on the civilian population of Gaza, in which the Jewish Defense Minister referred to Hamas as “human animals,” Petro has stated that “this is what the Nazis said about the Jews. Democratic nations cannot allow Nazism to be reestablished in international politics.”

In his comment, the Colombian president predicted that “this discourse of hatred, if it continues, will only bring about a Holocaust.”

In his comments, Gustavo Petro has also stated that “the only way for Palestinian children to sleep in peace is for Israeli children to sleep in peace” and that “the only way for Israeli children to sleep in peace is for Palestinian children to sleep in peace.”

The president ended the post by saying that “war will never achieve that, only a peace agreement that respects international law and the right of both peoples to exist freely” and illustrated his comment with photos of Palestinian children killed by Israel in the occupied territories.

Contradictions in an endless war

The role of the global left has always been to show more support for the Palestinian cause, in the face of constant abuses, if not direct violations of human rights, by Israel’s policy towards Palestinian territories.

However, for both governments further removed from the Jewish cause and for the European Union itself, which is much more critical of Israel than the United States, it is difficult to ignore the brutality of the recent Palestinian attack.

In addition to the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians, there are also reports of kidnappings. For now, Brussels will review the humanitarian aid it provides to Palestine following the Hamas attack.

From some progressive sectors, which align with the analysis of endemic violence in the region, questions have been raised about the timing of the president’s words, as they seem ill-timed when much of the world is witnessing the images of the barbarity of Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians.