De la Espriella promises to restore relations between Colombia and Israel Political Affairs

Colombia’s president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has promised to restore relations with Israel, after their relationship was strained by the campaign of genocide in Gaza.

On Wednesday, de la Espriella – a right-wing political newcomer who won the June 21 run-off election – admitted to receiving a phone call from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

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“Thank you, my dear friend,” de la Espriella wrote to Saar in a public exchange.

“Colombia will restore and strengthen its relationship with the Government of Israel like never before. Israel can count on Colombia as a loyal and stable friend. God bless our two countries.”

Saar, for his part, called de la Espriella “a true friend of the Jewish people and the state of Israel” and said that he hoped that the Israeli-Colombian relationship would be “stronger than ever”.

This statement indicates the upcoming change in Colombian foreign policy.

For the past four years, Colombia has been led by Gustavo Petro, the country’s first leftist president.

Since his election in 2022, Peter has been speaking out against Israel and his main ally, the United States, accusing both countries of violating human rights.

But this criticism became especially prominent after the Gaza war began in October 2023.

During the first weeks of the war, Peter he became one of the first world leaders to accuse Israel of killing people in the Palestinian territories.

“It is called genocide; they are doing this to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza and take territory for themselves,” Petro. he wrote on November 1, 2023.

“The leader of the government who has killed these people is a crime against people. His supporters cannot speak of democracy.”

Some of his statements seemed contradictory. When Israel’s defense minister at the time, Yoav Gallant, said that his country was fighting “human animals” in Gaza, Petro compared the minister’s words to the insults of the Nazis.

“This is what the Nazis said about the Jews,” Peter has been sent in October 2023. “Israelis and Palestinians are people under international law. If hate speech continues, it will only lead to destruction.”

Israel responded by suspending security shipments to Colombia. It also condemned Peter’s words as anti-Jewish.

More than 73,000 Palestinians they are believed to have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began.

United Nations experts have found that Israel’s tactics against Gaza “were consistent with genocide”, meaning deliberate attacks on civilians, assaults on aid workers and efforts to repair civilian damage, including water and sanitation.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice issued arrest warrants for Gallant and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of war crimes including using starvation as a means of war.

As the death toll rose in Gaza, relations between Israel and Colombia soured. Petro’s administration expelled the Colombian ambassador to Israel in 2023.

By May 2024, management was broke his diplomatic ties and Israel, and in October 2025, it expelled Israeli ambassadors and terminated the free trade agreement with the country.

The decision was not without consequences for Colombia. The South American country is still in the midst of a 60-year-old conflict that began in the 1960s, with the government battling violent organizations, left-wing terrorists and right-wing militias.

Israel was one of the main suppliers of the Colombian government’s military equipment and defense technology, including missiles and guns.

Since the export, the Colombian arms manufacturer, Indumil, has begun mass-producing rifles for the country’s armed forces. expected by the end of 2026.

Peter’s criticism of Israel has also strained the strained relationship he has with his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

Since Trump returned for a second term in 2025, the two leaders have been at odds, clashing over issues ranging from drug policy to immigration.

But Israel has been in conflict, too. Last September, after criticizing Trump’s policies during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Petro joined a Palestinian solidarity demonstration in the streets of New York City.

A few hours later, the Trump administration announced that it was revoking Petro’s visa to enter the US, calling his actions are “senseless and dangerous”.

But de la Espriella’s victory in this year’s presidential election marks a major shift in Colombia’s relationship with Israel and the US.

Petro was narrowly prevented from running for re-election, and his party’s nominee, Senator Ivan Cepeda, lost in the final showdown.

With 99.99 percent of the votes counted, de la Espriella won with 49.66 percent of the vote, ahead of Cepeda’s 48.7 percent. The The leftist senator agreed the second. Only 250,830 votes separated the two.

With de la Espriella’s inauguration due in August, his party, Defenders of the Homeland, has reaffirmed its commitment to rebuilding alliances with right-wing governments in Israel and the US.

De la Espriella, it said in a words“has shown that he is ready to work to strengthen the relationship between Colombia and the United States, using principles that share freedom, democracy, and development”.