Gali Dagan, the now-former Israeli ambassador to Colombia, left his position on Thursday after Colombia’s far-left, pro-Hamas President Gustavo Petro cut all ties with Israel in May.
The Israeli diplomat had reportedly been given a deadline of no later than June 30 to return to Israel along with the rest of the Israeli diplomatic personnel stationed in the South American nation.
Dagan, who served as the head of the Israeli diplomatic mission in Colombia for two years, bid farewell to the South American nation in a video posted on social media featuring a montage of some of the official events, meetings, and activities Dagan participated in during his two years in Colombia.
“Turn up the volume — Thank you so much Colombia. You were so kind to us. Two years of tireless work for the friendship between our countries and brotherly peoples. We miss you already. Goodbye,” Dagan’s message reads.
“It is time to say goodbye, Colombia. Thank you for every moment, every experience and every smile shared,” the video’s message read. “I take with me indelible memories and the warmth of your beautiful people.”
The pictures in the video featured Dagan participating in several official events and meetings. Two pictures showing previous encounters between Dagan and Petro are also part of the montage, as well as pictures of encounters Dagan held with former Colombian presidents César Gaviria, Andrés Pastrana, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Juan Manuel Santos, and Iván Duque.
The photos are shown in tune to the song “Jaguar Paw” by Israeli psy-trance musician Libra. Dagan explained at the end of the video that the chosen song “is a tribute to the 364 fatal victims of the NOVA festival, who were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, last October 7, 2023.″
Gustavo Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist guerrilla group and Colombia’s first leftist president ever, has spearheaded an international campaign against Israel that began shortly after the jihadist terrorist group Hamas carried out its unprecedented October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, which left over 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage.
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Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas have been met with a series of antisemitic remarks that Petro issued both in official events and on social media since the start of the self-defense operations.
Shortly after the start of its self-defense operations against Hamas, Petro accused Israel of turning Gaza into a concentration camp comparable to the likes of Auschwitz and compared the Israeli government’s actions to those carried out by Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler during World War II.
“If I had lived in Germany in 1933 I would have fought on the side of the Jews and if I had lived in Palestine in 1948 I would have fought on the Palestinian side,” Petro said at the time. “Now the neo-Nazis want the destruction of the Palestinian people, freedom and culture. Now the democrats and progressives want peace and freedom for the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
In one of his most recent — and most unhinged — statements, issued in early June, Petro accused the United States government led by President Joe Biden of allegedly being run by “Nazis” who are purportedly conducting an “experiment” in Gaza comparable to the events of the Holocaust. He also once again compared Israel’s actions to those of Nazi Germany.
Petro, who did not provide any evidence that substantiated his “Nazi” claims, made the accusations in a speech during an official event where he was honored by Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki for his support of the “Palestine cause.”
“That which Hitler proposed is what is being applied in Gaza, but as an experiment for the world. This is how they want to dominate us, how power can end life premeditatedly and in a generalized and massive way,” Petro said at the event, “as Hitler proposed, is what we are seeing today. They are experimenting in Gaza.”
Petro’s antisemitic remarks and the anti-Israel actions he has carried out since October 2023 have single-handedly damaged the nearly six decades of historically friendly relations between Colombia and Israel.
As part of his campaign against Israel, the Colombian president repeatedly threatened to have Colombia cut all ties with Israel if Israel did not stop its self-defense operations against Hamas. Petro made his threats formal in May, when he announced his decision to have Colombia break diplomatic ties with Israel in a speech during the Colombian government’s “May Day” communist holiday celebrations.
Petro’s decision to break Colombia’s nearly six-decade-old relationship with Israel was reportedly celebrated by Hamas. Weeks after the announcement, the Colombian government announced its plans to open a new embassy in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Murillo claimed to reporters that the opening of an embassy in Ramallah is meant to facilitate the recognition of “Palestine” as a state and “is nothing against Israel, the people of Israel, or the Jews.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.