The president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, has taken the step of greatest international significance in his express 180-degree turn with respect to the policies of his predecessor, Gustavo Petro, regarding the Middle East conflict. This Wednesday, it has made Colombia the second most important country in the world (after the United States) and the largest in Latin America with an embassy in Jerusalem. “It is a historic event,” said the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, at the inauguration of the embassy, which consolidates Israel's “enormous political achievement” by doubling (from five to ten) from 2024 the number of countries that have decided to establish it in the city.
In fact, the Colombian president has hastily materialized what another close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Argentine President Javier Milei, has repeatedly promised, but has not fulfilled for two years.
In the two months that he has been in power, De la Espriella has also rushed to reestablish the free trade agreement and diplomatic relations - which Petro broke in May 2024 due to the massacre in Gaza - and to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Syrian territory of the Golan Heights.
The implications of Bogotá's decision are not minor: Although Israel has chosen Jerusalem as its capital, almost all states in the world have their embassies in Tel Aviv or its surroundings, in order not to predetermine the status of the city, which Israelis and Palestinians consider their capital and which was a key point of debate in previous peace talks. Bogotá thus leaves the international consensus and implicitly recognizes the position of Israel, which calls Jerusalem its “eternal and indivisible” capital.
It is also, with some 44 million inhabitants, the most relevant country, politically, economically and diplomatically speaking, with an embassy in Jerusalem since 2018, when the United States moved it from Tel Aviv, during Donald Trump's first term. Of the other eight States that have taken the same measure, three are also from Latin America (Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay) and another three from the South Pacific: Fiji, Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The remaining two have only partial recognition: Kosovo (around half of the countries) and Somaliland, whose independence is only recognized by Israel worldwide and which inaugurated the embassy in June.
In his speech, the head of Israeli diplomacy described Colombia as a “brother country and strategic partner” and showed his joyful surprise at the speed with which De la Espriella has fulfilled the promise he made when they met in Buenos Aires in November 2025, nine months before winning the elections, as he said. "He told me: 'As soon as I am elected, with the help of God, I will take the embassy to Jerusalem."
After praising bilateral ties, both Saar and the mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, have elaborated on the clear political significance of the decision. Lion thanked Bogotá for its “important and courageous step” that “sends a clear message that reinforces the status of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” “Each new embassy connects its destination to Jerusalem and takes another step to reinforce its status,” he added.
The minister has indicated, for his part, that the next – and eleventh – will be the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “And I also know what the twelfth will be, but I can't say,” he added. Saar has stressed that Jerusalem "will always be the capital of Israel and the Jewish people", because "there are not two Jerusalems", in reference to the Palestinian demand to have its own State, with the eastern part of the city as the capital. Israel has occupied it militarily since the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in the 1980s, although the international community did not recognize the decision.
The new Colombian ambassador, Tania Gilinski, has also spoken of a “historic day” and presented Jerusalem as “the capital of Israel, of King David, King Solomon, King Hezekiah and many other biblical kings.” Gilinski has applauded the Colombian businessmen who “continued to work” and the young Israelis who continued to travel to Colombia (a common destination, especially after mandatory military service) after Petro broke off bilateral relations and then, in 2025, expelled the last diplomats. “They refused to allow politics to destroy what was real,” praised the ambassador, who takes the position that her father, Isaac Gilinski Sragowicz, held between 2009 and 2012.
A quick turn
More than steps, the new Colombian president has been taking great strides to undo Petro's legacy at full speed. It has resumed coal exports and removed the country from the genocide case against Israel at the Hague Court. South Africa presented it and Petro formally joined his country. Furthermore, in September the Colombian delegation to the UN was one of the few that stayed in the room during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the General Assembly. Shortly, the withdrawal of the mutual visa requirement is also planned and an official delegation from the Colombian Government will visit Israel to launch a Binational Economic Commission.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Omar Bula, traveled specifically for this Wednesday's event. Bula made a more sober and diplomatic speech in which he highlighted “security” as a “fundamental priority for both peoples.”
"Colombia faces threats derived from terrorism, drug trafficking, and transnational organized crime that affect our communities, our institutions and our development. Facing these threats requires solid national capabilities and effective international cooperation. In this effort, Israel is a strategic partner. It always has been and from now on it will be with even more zeal and strength," the minister said. Israel has been one of Colombia's largest weapons suppliers for almost half a century and its troops have provided training there in counterterrorism techniques to its special forces.
The event, full of biblical references by the representatives of both countries, began with the Foreign Ministers unveiling the plaque in front of the Embassy, located in a historic building promoted by a Palestinian builder a century ago, during the British Protectorate, before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
