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Bolivian President Luis Arce (left) shakes hands with Palestinian Ambassador Mahmoud Elalwani (right) during an October 20, 2023 meeting at the presidential residence in La Paz.
Citing “crimes against humanity,” Bolivia’s socialist administration on Tuesday became the first in the world to completely sever diplomatic relations with Israel over its war on Gaza, while the leftist governments of Chile and Colombia and Jordan’s monarchy recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv.
“We are sending this official communication to the state of Israel in which, as stated, we make known our decision as the Plurinational State of Bolivia to break diplomatic relations with Israel,” Bolivian Minister of the Presidency María Nela Prada told reporters at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
“We also demand an end to the attacks in the Gaza Strip, which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” she continued.
Prada said the decision by Bolivian President Luis Arce “is consistent with our pacifist policy,” adding that her government will pursue “sanctions against those responsible for the war crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people—not only now, but since many years.”
The minister also vowed that Bolivia “will send humanitarian aid to those affected in the Gaza Strip, who are going through a serious health crisis,” while calling on “brotherly nations” to “produce collective action” to “avoid genocide” in Gaza.
Speaking after Prada at Tuesday’s press conference, Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said that “within the framework of its principled position of respect for life, Bolivia has decided to break diplomatic relations with Israel, in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip.”
On Monday, Arce urged the United Nations Security Council to “prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people and pave a definitive solution for Palestine to exercise its right to self-determination, to have its own territory without illegal occupations, and fully enjoy the attributes of a free, sovereign, and independent state.”
Bolivia’s U.N. ambassador, Diego Pary, said Tuesday that his country “will be on the right side of history.”
“The only formula that can truly guarantee peace and security in the region is the full recognition of state of Palestine in internationally recognized pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he informed the U.N. General Assembly.
“Free Palestine is not just a cause of the Palestinian people, but rather a question of global justice and peace,” Pary—a Quecha Indigenous leader—continued. “The liberty and dignity of human beings must be respected in all corners of this planet and it is our duty to work together to achieve a future in which Palestine can once and for all be free.”
“To our brothers and sisters in Palestine, I reiterate, you are not alone,” he added. “Bolivia stands with you, and the peoples of the world are with you.”
In 2009, then-Bolivian President Evo Morales—who, like Arce, is a member of the Movement for Socialism party—joined leftist former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel over its Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza, in which more than 1,400 Palestinians—most of them civilians—and 13 Israelis, almost all soldiers, were killed.
Bolivia and Israel restored relations in 2019 during the administration of right-wing former President Jeanine Áñez, who took power after a U.S.-backed coup.
Israel responded to Bolivia’s move with a Foreign Ministry statement condemning “Bolivia’s support of terrorism and its submission to the Iranian regime, which attest to the values the government of Bolivia represents.”
Leftist Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Tuesday recalled Jorge Carvajal, his country’s ambassador to Israel, “given the unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law that Israel has incurred in the Gaza Strip.”
“Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern that these military operations—which at this point in their development entail collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza—do not respect fundamental norms of international law,” he added.
Boric cited the more than 8,000 Palestinians, “mostly women and children,” killed by Israeli forces since October 7, when Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel left more than 1,400 people dead and over 200 kidnapped.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 8,796 Palestinians—including nearly 2,300 women and over 3,600 children—have been killed in Israeli attacks, while another 23,000 suffered injuries.
Last year, Boric put off accepting new Israeli Ambassador Gil Artzyeli’s credentials in response to Israeli occupation forces’ killing of Odai Trad Salah, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy, in the West Bank.
Boric also angered many Israeli officials last year by announcing that Chile would open an embassy in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Also on Tuesday, Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel, Isaac Gilinski Sragowicz, with left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro writing on social media that “if Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people we cannot be there.”
Petro’s recall is the latest move in a diplomatic fracas between Colombia and Israel that erupted after Petro likened Israeli leaders’ dehumanizing and genocidal statements about Palestinians to “what the Nazis said about the Jews” and called Gaza—often described as the “world’s largest open-air prison”—a “concentration camp.”
After Israel accused Petro of “hostile and antisemitic statements” and “support for the horrific acts of Hamas terrorists,” the Colombian president hit back, saying Israel’s war on Gaza is “genocide.”
“They do it to remove the Palestinian people from Gaza and take it over,” Petro wrote on social media after an Israeli bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp killed and wounded at least scores and possibly hundreds of Palestinians—one of at least three massacres reportedly carried out by Israeli forces on Tuesday.
“The head of the state who carries out this genocide is a criminal against humanity,” Petro added, referring to far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Their allies cannot talk about democracy.”
On Wednesday, Jordan became the first Arab country having normalized relations with Israel to recall its ambassador over the war. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi directed Rasan al-Majali, the Hashemite kingdom’s ambassador to Israel, to return to Amman “as an expression of Jordan’s position of rejection and condemnation of the raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is killing innocent people and causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Jordan—which in 1994 became the second Arab nation to officially recognize Israel—previously withheld its ambassador to Tel Aviv during Cast Lead, and recalled al-Majali in 2019 to protest Israel’s imprisonment of Jordanian citizens Hiba al-Labadi and Abdulrahman Miri without charge or trial.
Al-Safadi said al-Majali’s return is conditioned upon Israel stopping its war on Gaza and ending the “humanitarian crisis it has caused.”
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Citing “crimes against humanity,” Bolivia’s socialist administration on Tuesday became the first in the world to completely sever diplomatic relations with Israel over its war on Gaza, while the leftist governments of Chile and Colombia and Jordan’s monarchy recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv.
“We are sending this official communication to the state of Israel in which, as stated, we make known our decision as the Plurinational State of Bolivia to break diplomatic relations with Israel,” Bolivian Minister of the Presidency María Nela Prada told reporters at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
“We also demand an end to the attacks in the Gaza Strip, which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” she continued.
Prada said the decision by Bolivian President Luis Arce “is consistent with our pacifist policy,” adding that her government will pursue “sanctions against those responsible for the war crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people—not only now, but since many years.”
The minister also vowed that Bolivia “will send humanitarian aid to those affected in the Gaza Strip, who are going through a serious health crisis,” while calling on “brotherly nations” to “produce collective action” to “avoid genocide” in Gaza.
Speaking after Prada at Tuesday’s press conference, Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said that “within the framework of its principled position of respect for life, Bolivia has decided to break diplomatic relations with Israel, in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip.”
On Monday, Arce urged the United Nations Security Council to “prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people and pave a definitive solution for Palestine to exercise its right to self-determination, to have its own territory without illegal occupations, and fully enjoy the attributes of a free, sovereign, and independent state.”
Bolivia’s U.N. ambassador, Diego Pary, said Tuesday that his country “will be on the right side of history.”
“The only formula that can truly guarantee peace and security in the region is the full recognition of state of Palestine in internationally recognized pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he informed the U.N. General Assembly.
“Free Palestine is not just a cause of the Palestinian people, but rather a question of global justice and peace,” Pary—a Quecha Indigenous leader—continued. “The liberty and dignity of human beings must be respected in all corners of this planet and it is our duty to work together to achieve a future in which Palestine can once and for all be free.”
“To our brothers and sisters in Palestine, I reiterate, you are not alone,” he added. “Bolivia stands with you, and the peoples of the world are with you.”
In 2009, then-Bolivian President Evo Morales—who, like Arce, is a member of the Movement for Socialism party—joined leftist former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel over its Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza, in which more than 1,400 Palestinians—most of them civilians—and 13 Israelis, almost all soldiers, were killed.
Bolivia and Israel restored relations in 2019 during the administration of right-wing former President Jeanine Áñez, who took power after a U.S.-backed coup.
Israel responded to Bolivia’s move with a Foreign Ministry statement condemning “Bolivia’s support of terrorism and its submission to the Iranian regime, which attest to the values the government of Bolivia represents.”
Leftist Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Tuesday recalled Jorge Carvajal, his country’s ambassador to Israel, “given the unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law that Israel has incurred in the Gaza Strip.”
“Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern that these military operations—which at this point in their development entail collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza—do not respect fundamental norms of international law,” he added.
Boric cited the more than 8,000 Palestinians, “mostly women and children,” killed by Israeli forces since October 7, when Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel left more than 1,400 people dead and over 200 kidnapped.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 8,796 Palestinians—including nearly 2,300 women and over 3,600 children—have been killed in Israeli attacks, while another 23,000 suffered injuries.
Last year, Boric put off accepting new Israeli Ambassador Gil Artzyeli’s credentials in response to Israeli occupation forces’ killing of Odai Trad Salah, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy, in the West Bank.
Boric also angered many Israeli officials last year by announcing that Chile would open an embassy in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Also on Tuesday, Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel, Isaac Gilinski Sragowicz, with left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro writing on social media that “if Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people we cannot be there.”
Petro’s recall is the latest move in a diplomatic fracas between Colombia and Israel that erupted after Petro likened Israeli leaders’ dehumanizing and genocidal statements about Palestinians to “what the Nazis said about the Jews” and called Gaza—often described as the “world’s largest open-air prison”—a “concentration camp.”
After Israel accused Petro of “hostile and antisemitic statements” and “support for the horrific acts of Hamas terrorists,” the Colombian president hit back, saying Israel’s war on Gaza is “genocide.”
“They do it to remove the Palestinian people from Gaza and take it over,” Petro wrote on social media after an Israeli bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp killed and wounded at least scores and possibly hundreds of Palestinians—one of at least three massacres reportedly carried out by Israeli forces on Tuesday.
“The head of the state who carries out this genocide is a criminal against humanity,” Petro added, referring to far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Their allies cannot talk about democracy.”
On Wednesday, Jordan became the first Arab country having normalized relations with Israel to recall its ambassador over the war. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi directed Rasan al-Majali, the Hashemite kingdom’s ambassador to Israel, to return to Amman “as an expression of Jordan’s position of rejection and condemnation of the raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is killing innocent people and causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Jordan—which in 1994 became the second Arab nation to officially recognize Israel—previously withheld its ambassador to Tel Aviv during Cast Lead, and recalled al-Majali in 2019 to protest Israel’s imprisonment of Jordanian citizens Hiba al-Labadi and Abdulrahman Miri without charge or trial.
Al-Safadi said al-Majali’s return is conditioned upon Israel stopping its war on Gaza and ending the “humanitarian crisis it has caused.”
Citing “crimes against humanity,” Bolivia’s socialist administration on Tuesday became the first in the world to completely sever diplomatic relations with Israel over its war on Gaza, while the leftist governments of Chile and Colombia and Jordan’s monarchy recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv.
“We are sending this official communication to the state of Israel in which, as stated, we make known our decision as the Plurinational State of Bolivia to break diplomatic relations with Israel,” Bolivian Minister of the Presidency María Nela Prada told reporters at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
“We also demand an end to the attacks in the Gaza Strip, which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” she continued.
Prada said the decision by Bolivian President Luis Arce “is consistent with our pacifist policy,” adding that her government will pursue “sanctions against those responsible for the war crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people—not only now, but since many years.”
The minister also vowed that Bolivia “will send humanitarian aid to those affected in the Gaza Strip, who are going through a serious health crisis,” while calling on “brotherly nations” to “produce collective action” to “avoid genocide” in Gaza.
Speaking after Prada at Tuesday’s press conference, Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said that “within the framework of its principled position of respect for life, Bolivia has decided to break diplomatic relations with Israel, in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip.”
On Monday, Arce urged the United Nations Security Council to “prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people and pave a definitive solution for Palestine to exercise its right to self-determination, to have its own territory without illegal occupations, and fully enjoy the attributes of a free, sovereign, and independent state.”
Bolivia’s U.N. ambassador, Diego Pary, said Tuesday that his country “will be on the right side of history.”
“The only formula that can truly guarantee peace and security in the region is the full recognition of state of Palestine in internationally recognized pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he informed the U.N. General Assembly.
“Free Palestine is not just a cause of the Palestinian people, but rather a question of global justice and peace,” Pary—a Quecha Indigenous leader—continued. “The liberty and dignity of human beings must be respected in all corners of this planet and it is our duty to work together to achieve a future in which Palestine can once and for all be free.”
“To our brothers and sisters in Palestine, I reiterate, you are not alone,” he added. “Bolivia stands with you, and the peoples of the world are with you.”
In 2009, then-Bolivian President Evo Morales—who, like Arce, is a member of the Movement for Socialism party—joined leftist former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel over its Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza, in which more than 1,400 Palestinians—most of them civilians—and 13 Israelis, almost all soldiers, were killed.
Bolivia and Israel restored relations in 2019 during the administration of right-wing former President Jeanine Áñez, who took power after a U.S.-backed coup.
Israel responded to Bolivia’s move with a Foreign Ministry statement condemning “Bolivia’s support of terrorism and its submission to the Iranian regime, which attest to the values the government of Bolivia represents.”
Leftist Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Tuesday recalled Jorge Carvajal, his country’s ambassador to Israel, “given the unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law that Israel has incurred in the Gaza Strip.”
“Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern that these military operations—which at this point in their development entail collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza—do not respect fundamental norms of international law,” he added.
Boric cited the more than 8,000 Palestinians, “mostly women and children,” killed by Israeli forces since October 7, when Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel left more than 1,400 people dead and over 200 kidnapped.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 8,796 Palestinians—including nearly 2,300 women and over 3,600 children—have been killed in Israeli attacks, while another 23,000 suffered injuries.
Last year, Boric put off accepting new Israeli Ambassador Gil Artzyeli’s credentials in response to Israeli occupation forces’ killing of Odai Trad Salah, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy, in the West Bank.
Boric also angered many Israeli officials last year by announcing that Chile would open an embassy in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Also on Tuesday, Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel, Isaac Gilinski Sragowicz, with left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro writing on social media that “if Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people we cannot be there.”
Petro’s recall is the latest move in a diplomatic fracas between Colombia and Israel that erupted after Petro likened Israeli leaders’ dehumanizing and genocidal statements about Palestinians to “what the Nazis said about the Jews” and called Gaza—often described as the “world’s largest open-air prison”—a “concentration camp.”
After Israel accused Petro of “hostile and antisemitic statements” and “support for the horrific acts of Hamas terrorists,” the Colombian president hit back, saying Israel’s war on Gaza is “genocide.”
“They do it to remove the Palestinian people from Gaza and take it over,” Petro wrote on social media after an Israeli bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp killed and wounded at least scores and possibly hundreds of Palestinians—one of at least three massacres reportedly carried out by Israeli forces on Tuesday.
“The head of the state who carries out this genocide is a criminal against humanity,” Petro added, referring to far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Their allies cannot talk about democracy.”
On Wednesday, Jordan became the first Arab country having normalized relations with Israel to recall its ambassador over the war. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi directed Rasan al-Majali, the Hashemite kingdom’s ambassador to Israel, to return to Amman “as an expression of Jordan’s position of rejection and condemnation of the raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is killing innocent people and causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Jordan—which in 1994 became the second Arab nation to officially recognize Israel—previously withheld its ambassador to Tel Aviv during Cast Lead, and recalled al-Majali in 2019 to protest Israel’s imprisonment of Jordanian citizens Hiba al-Labadi and Abdulrahman Miri without charge or trial.
Al-Safadi said al-Majali’s return is conditioned upon Israel stopping its war on Gaza and ending the “humanitarian crisis it has caused.”
President Donald Trump doubled down on his threats to silence his critics Thursday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that outlets that give him "bad press" may have their broadcast licenses taken away.
The threat came just one day after his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) director, Brendan Carr, successfully pressured ABC into pulling Jimmy Kimmel's show from the air by threatening the broadcast licenses of its affiliates over a comment the comedian made about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
"I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me," Trump told the press gaggle. "I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they're 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity... I mean, they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away."
"When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do," the president continued. "If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
He said that the decision would be left up to Carr, who has threatened to take away licenses from networks that air what he called "distorted" content.
It is unclear where Trump's statistic that networks have been "97% against" him originates, nor the claim that mainstream news networks "haven't had a conservative on in years."
But even if it were true, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says "the FCC doesn't have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to revoke a license because of content."
In comments made to Axios Thursday, Gomez—the lone Democrat on the five-member panel—said that the Trump administration was "weaponizing its licensing authority in order to bring broadcasters to heel," as part of a "campaign of censorship and control."
National news networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC do not have broadcasting licenses approved by the FCC, nor do cable networks like CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. The licenses threatened by Carr are for local affiliates, which—despite having the branding of the big networks—are owned by less well-known companies like Nexstar Media Group and the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, both of which pushed in favor of ABC's decision to ax Kimmel.
Gomez said that with Trump's intimidation of broadcasters, the "threat is the point."
"It is a very hard standard to meet to revoke a license, which is why it's so rarely done, but broadcast license to the broadcasters are extremely valuable," she said. "And so they don't want to be dragged before the FCC either in order to answer to an enforcement complaint of some kind or under the threat of possible revocation."
Democratic lawmakers are vowing to investigate the Trump administration's pressure campaign that may have led to ABC deciding to indefinitely suspend late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that he filed a motion to subpoena Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr one day after he publicly warned ABC of negative consequences if the network kept Kimmel on the air.
"Enough of Congress sleepwalking while [President Donald] Trump and [Vice President JD] Vance shred the First Amendment and Constitution," Khanna declared. "It is time for Congress to stand up for Article I."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also said on Thursday that he was opening an investigation into the potential financial aspects of Carr's pressure campaign on ABC, including the involvement of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the network's largest affiliate and is currently involved in merger talks that will need FCC approval.
"The Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, and the FCC," he said. "We will not be intimidated and we will defend the First Amendment."
Progressive politicians weren't the only ones launching an investigation into the Kimmel controversy, as legal organization Democracy Forward announced that it's filed a a Freedom of Information Act request for records after January 20, 2025 related to any FCC efforts “to use the agency’s licensing and enforcement powers to police and limit speech and influence what the public can watch and hear.”
After Hamas urged international support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday signaled another potential attack by claiming on social media that the peaceful humanitarian mission to feed starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip "is a jihadist initiative serving the terror group's agenda."
While Israel has not taken responsibility for recent drone attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla—whose name means perseverance in Arabic—the incidents have raised eyebrows, given the country's history of attacking previous ones. The foreign ministers of 16 other nations on Tuesday implored Israel not to target this flotilla, which involves activists and political leaders from dozens of countries, including eight US veterans.
As Middle East Eye reported Thursday, Hamas—which Israel and the United States designate as a terrorist organization despite its governance of Gaza—called for escalating the global movement in solidarity with the strip "in rejection of the [Israeli] occupation's aggression, crimes of genocide, and starvation."
"We call for mobilizing all means to support the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza, and we warn the occupation against targeting it," Hamas also said in a statement, part of which was quoted in the Israeli ministry's post on X.
Responding on the same platform, journalist Séamus Malekafzali said: "Past comments from the Israeli government about the aid flotillas focused on celebrity vapidity or didn't mention their aim at all. Now, they're honing in on it being a supposedly terrorist instrument. Feels like the response is being set up to be more severe than in the past."
The post came two days after Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism published a report titled "Global Sumud Flotilla": A Humanitarian Cover With Documented Links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
As Brussels Signal reported Thursday:
Flotilla representatives and critics dismissed these claims as Israeli disinformation, echoing accusations leveled at prior missions, and called the report a case of "guilt by association," reliant on photos and unverified affiliations rather than evidence of operational control.
Organizers emphasised transparent crowdfunding for aid, with no terror funding, and framed the convoy as a grassroots response to aid blockages.
Earlier this week, a commission of independent experts at the United Nations concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and an investigation from The New Humanitarian found that Israeli forces have killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian aid-seekers and wounded almost 20,000 others since October 2023. As of Thursday, the overall death toll has topped 65,000, though experts warn the true tally is likely far higher.