Colombia took the step to pressure West Jerusalem into ceasing the hostilities in Gaza
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has signed a decree prohibiting coal exports to Israel, citing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s ongoing military response to the cross-border attack by Hamas last October.
The South American nation is Israel’s largest fossil fuel supplier, with trade amounting to $450 million in 2023. The Colombian Miners Association had warned against the move, which was first announced in June, pointing to the trade agreement between Bogota and West Jerusalem, as well as opposition from coal producers.
The document published on the presidential website on Sunday states that the decision was made based on “the seriousness of the humanitarian situation that has arisen in Palestine following the military operation carried out by Israel after 7 October 2023.”
It referenced a recent report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which determined that “32,333 Palestinians had died, of whom 9,000 were women and 13,000 were children; that 1.1 million people were experiencing food insecurity; and that 1.7 million people had been displaced from their territories,” since the beginning of the hostilities.
The decree takes effect five days after publication and will stay in place “until the orders of provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice in the Process of the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) are fully complied with.”
Petro shared the decree on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, explaining that the measure was taken because “Colombian coal is used to make bombs to kill Palestinian children.”
Colombia had been one of Israel’s closest partners in Latin America. However, relations between the two nations have deteriorated sharply since the beginning of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
The rift began after the Colombian president described the operation in Gaza as “genocide” and compared the Israeli military to Nazis, which West Jerusalem slammed as “hostile and antisemitic statements.” This was followed by Israel suspending all security exports to Colombia, which subsequently broke off diplomatic relations.
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