Colombia inaugurates embassy to Israel in Jerusalem

Palestinian officials condemn move by Colombia’s new government that marked a major shift after former President Petro had severed ties with Israel.

Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar open Colombia's embassy in Jerusalem, October 14 [Rafi Ben Hakoon/GPO/Handout via Reuters]

Colombia has opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem , joining a small group of countries in taking the controversial step of backing Israel’s claim to sovereignty in the contested city.

Palestinian officials swiftly denounced the inauguration on Wednesday that came as Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the genocidal war on Gaza, where three years of attacks have killed more than 74,000 people.

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The move by the administration of new Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella is a major shift from his left-wing predecessor Gustavo Petro, who in 2024 severed ties with Israel over the war on Gaza.

De la Espriella, who was sworn in in August , has also restored a free trade agreement between Israel and Colombia that Petro terminated.

Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Omar ‌Bula Escobar said on Wednesday that relations between the two countries “should ⁠never have been broken” and that Bogota was taking “taking a concrete step towards ⁠restoring diplomatic relations”.

“Israel is a strategic partner. It always has been, and from now on, it will be an even stronger one,” he said during a ceremony that marked the embassy’s opening.

The opening made Colombia the 10th country to establish its embassy in Israel in Jerusalem – most countries keep their formal diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the move during the ceremony. “This is an important date for the State of Israel. It’s also an important date for the city of Jerusalem,” he said while signing the Colombian embassy’s guest book.

Colombian Ambassador Tania Gilinski said Israel had always been a “strategic partner” and that moving forward it “will be so with even greater determination and strength”.

‘Violation of international law’

The Palestinian Authority condemned Colombia’s embassy move, calling it “a violation of international legitimacy resolutions” that undermines “the international consensus on the legal status of the holy city”.

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also criticised the move as a “violation of international law and relevant international resolutions”.

United States President Donald Trump moved the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his first term in 2018, angering Palestinians and sparking international condemnation. Previous US presidents, as well as nearly every other country, refrained from opening embassies in Jerusalem, arguing that the city’s final status should first be resolved in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

The status of Jerusalem remains one of the core unresolved issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Israel claiming the undivided city as its capital while Palestinians view occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and annexed it in 1967, in a move not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.

Since Trump relocated the US embassy to Jerusalem, only a handful of small, US-aligned countries have followed suit, namely Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Nauru. Kosovo and Somaliland, which are not member-states of the United Nations, have also opened what they consider their embassies in Jerusalem.

巴勒斯坦官员谴责哥伦比亚新​​政府的举动，此举标志着前总统佩特罗切断与以色列的关系后，哥伦比亚政府发生了重大转变。

10月14日，哥伦比亚外交部长奥马尔·布拉·埃斯科瓦尔和以色列外交部长吉迪恩·萨尔为哥伦比亚驻耶路撒冷大使馆揭幕。[拉菲·本·哈孔/GPO/路透社供图]

哥伦比亚在耶路撒冷开设了驻以色列大使馆，加入了少数几个采取争议性举措支持以色列对这座争议城市的主权声索的国家行列。

巴勒斯坦官员迅速谴责了周三的就职典礼。此时，以色列正因对加沙的种族灭绝战争而面临越来越大的国际压力，三年来的袭击已造成超过 74,000 人死亡。

哥伦比亚将武装组织头目引渡至美国，此举标志着哥伦比亚向华盛顿靠拢的趋势（列表1/3）

列表 2/3：巴西的卢拉能否阻止席卷拉丁美洲的右翼浪潮？

哥伦比亚抗议者集会反对与以色列建立关系（共3条，此为第3条）

哥伦比亚新​​总统阿韦拉多·德拉埃斯普里利亚的政府此举与他的左翼前任古斯塔沃·佩特罗截然不同，后者在2024年因加沙战争而与以色列断绝了外交关系。

德拉埃斯普里利亚于 8 月宣誓就职，他还恢复了以色列和哥伦比亚之间由佩特罗终止的自由贸易协定。

哥伦比亚外交部长奥马尔·布拉·埃斯科瓦尔周三表示，两国关系“本不应该破裂”，波哥大正在“采取具体措施恢复外交关系”。

“以色列是我们的战略伙伴。过去是，现在将是，而且从现在起，它将成为一个更加强大的战略伙伴，”他在大使馆开幕仪式上说道。

此次开馆使哥伦比亚成为第十个在耶路撒冷设立以色列大使馆的国家——大多数国家仍将正式外交机构设在特拉维夫。

以色列外交部长吉迪恩·萨尔在仪式上对这一举动表示欢迎。他在哥伦比亚大使馆的留言簿上签名时说：“这对以色列国来说是一个重要的日子，对耶路撒冷这座城市来说也是一个重要的日子。”

哥伦比亚大使塔尼亚·吉林斯基表示，以色列一直是哥伦比亚的“战略伙伴”，并且“未来将以更大的决心和力量继续保持这一地位”。

“违反国际法”

巴勒斯坦权力机构谴责哥伦比亚大使馆的搬迁行为，称其“违反了国际合法性决议”，破坏了“国际社会对圣城法律地位的共识”。

约旦外交部也批评此举“违反了国际法和相关国际决议”。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在其2018年第一任期内，将美国驻以色列大使馆从特拉维夫迁至耶路撒冷，此举激怒了巴勒斯坦人，并引发国际社会的谴责。此前的美国总统以及几乎所有其他国家都避免在耶路撒冷设立大使馆，理由是该市的最终地位应首先通过以色列和巴勒斯坦之间的谈判解决。

耶路撒冷的地位仍然是以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突中尚未解决的核心问题之一，以色列声称这座未分割的城市是其首都，而巴勒斯坦人则将占领的东耶路撒冷视为未来巴勒斯坦国的首都。

1967年，以色列占领了东耶路撒冷并将其吞并，但这一举动并未得到国际社会绝大多数成员的承认。

自特朗普将美国大使馆迁至耶路撒冷以来，只有少数几个与美国关系密切的小国效仿，包括斐济、危地马拉、洪都拉斯、巴布亚新几内亚、巴拉圭和瑙鲁。科索沃和索马里兰虽然不是联合国成员国，但也在耶路撒冷开设了它们所谓的“大使馆”。