Colombian President Gustavo Petro introduced on Saturday that his nation will halt exports of coal to Israel over its battle on Gaza, as relations between two nations that have been as soon as shut navy and industrial allies additional detoriate.
Petro wrote on the social media platform X that coal exports will solely resume “when the genocide” in Gaza stops. Petro additionally posted a draft decree, which says that coal exports will solely resume if Israel complies with a latest order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that claims Israel ought to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip.
According to Colombia’s National Statistics Department, coal exports to Israel have been price greater than $320 million within the first eight months of final 12 months. That’s a small fraction of the nation’s total coal exports, which have been price greater than $9 billion in 2023.
Israel imports greater than 50% of its coal from Colombia, based on the American Journal for Transportation, and makes use of a lot of it to feed its energy vegetation.
Petro, who was elected into workplace in 2022 as Colombia’s first leftist president, broke diplomatic ties with Israel in May saying that he couldn’t keep relations with the “genocidal” authorities of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Both governments have continued to maintain consulates in one another’s territories and conduct commerce.
Colombia has lengthy trusted Israel for navy {hardware} that features assault rifles and intelligence tools. The South American nation has additionally purchased greater than 30 fighter jets from Israel over the previous three many years and depends upon Israeli firms for his or her upkeep.
New navy purchases have been halted, nevertheless, as relations between each nations deteriorate. Critics of Petro have mentioned that the president’s resolution to chop ties with Israel jeopardizes Colombia’s safety capabilities as its navy fights drug cartels and insurgent teams in rural components of the nation.
But others applauded Petro’s newest transfer in opposition to Israel. The Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, an advocacy group that has been attempting to persuade nations around the globe to cease coal and oil exports to Israel, mentioned in an announcement on Saturday that Colombia’s resolution may put strain on Israel to vary its insurance policies within the Gaza Strip, and also will put strain on Israeli settlements within the West Bank that depend on electrical vegetation fueled by coal imports.
“We urgently call on South Africa, which provides 9% of Israel’s coal, to follow Colombia’s lead,” the group mentioned within the assertion whereas urging different nations with important power exports to additionally contemplate a ban.
Unlike earlier Colombian presidents, who stored sturdy ties with Israel, Petro has been an outspoken critic of the Middle Eastern nation and initially refused to sentence the Hamas assault that preceded Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Source: www.dailysabah.com