In a first for any country, Bolivia severs ties with Israel over war in Gaza
Bolivia’s President Luis Arce attends the UN Climate Change Conference on November 1, 2021 in Glasgow. Photo by Getty Images
(JTA) — Bolivia’s foreign ministry announced Tuesday that it is severing diplomatic ties with Israel over what it called Israel’s crimes against humanity in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Bolivia had previously cut ties with Israel in 2009 under President Evo Morales over another violent conflict in Gaza, but President Jeanine Anez restored relations in 2020.
Bolivia’s current president, Luis Arce, is a member of the country’s left-wing socialist party and was formerly finance minister under Morales.
Morales, who resigned after his 2019 election win was widely disputed, was sharply critical of Israel during his 13 years in power. In 2017, after Chile expelled nine Bolivians accused of smuggling and theft, he said, “Chile is the Israel of South America: It imposes political walls, invisible and mental,”
In 2021, the Organization of American States — a coalition of 35 countries in North and South America — designated Hamas, the group that killed over 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7, a terrorist organization. Bolivia was one of a few countries in the OAS not to agree with the move.
Colombia’s president has also threatened to cut ties with Israel in recent weeks, leading Israel to stop arms sales to the South American country.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
