{"id":545452,"date":"2026-07-17T03:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/545452\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T03:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:40:15","slug":"colombias-next-fm-says-bogota-will-open-embassy-in-jerusalem-9th-country-to-do-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/545452\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia’s next FM says Bogota will open embassy in Jerusalem – 9th country to do so"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colombia\u2019s incoming foreign minister informed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar that his country will open an embassy in Jerusalem, Sa\u2019ar\u2019s office said Wednesday, after President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella vowed his country would have a relationship \u201clike never before\u201d with Israel once he takes office.<\/p>\n

Colombia will be the ninth country to open an embassy in Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Fiji and Somaliland have embassies in Jerusalem, while other countries \u2014 including Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia \u2014 have embassy branches in the capital.<\/p>\n

During their meeting in Washington, DC, Sa\u2019ar and Omar Bola Escobar also agreed to restore full diplomatic relations and remove visa requirements.<\/p>\n

Colombia recalled its ambassador in June 2024, and Israel responded by not replacing its outgoing envoy.<\/p>\n

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Bogota\u2019s relations with Jerusalem nosedived under Colombia\u2019s first-ever leftist government led by President Gustavo Petro, an ardent critic of Israel\u2019s war against Hamas in Gaza, which he has cast as a genocide \u2014 a charge vehemently denied by Israel.<\/p>\n

Petro severed<\/a> diplomatic ties and suspended the purchase of weaponry from Israel \u2014 formerly one of Colombia\u2019s main military partners.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tColombia\u2019s President Gustavo Petro speaks during a military ceremony in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara)<\/p>\n

De la Espriella has said he will reverse these decisions, and one of his main campaign pledges was to \u201crenew a strategic alliance with the State of Israel,\u201d open an embassy in Jerusalem, and \u201cdefend the Judeo-Christian principles that form the foundation of Western civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicknamed \u201cThe Tiger,\u201d de la Espriella holds dual Colombian and US citizenship. He\u2019s a Trump supporter and a member of the US Republican Party. He has never held public office before and will take the reins from Petro in August.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tColombian President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, left, waves to supporters next to his wife Ana Lucia Pineda during a Mass in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira, in Chiquinquira, Colombia, July 9, 2026 (AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara)<\/p>\n

Colombia is enduring the worst levels of violence in a decade, and the president-elect won the election by looking to shrink the size of the state, conduct a bombing campaign against Colombia\u2019s myriad armed groups and review the Latin American country\u2019s involvement in international organizations including the United Nations.<\/p>\n

In an interview with AFP during the campaign, he said he would seek US and Israeli support to conduct bombing campaigns on guerrillas.<\/p>\n

Experts consulted by AFP have cast doubt on de la Espriella\u2019s ability to fulfill his promises.<\/p>\n

He is taking the helm of a deeply divided country, with the political left \u2014 which won almost half the votes on Sunday \u2014 threatening massive protests against his policies, including his vow to restore ties with Israel.<\/p>\n

Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colombia\u2019s incoming foreign minister informed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar that his country will open an embassy in Jerusalem,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[244218,65,85,46,217887,3794,43],"class_list":["post-545452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-abelardo-de-la-espriella","tag-gideon-saar","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-colombia-relations","tag-jerusalem","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}