‘Used to Kill Children’ – Colombia Bans Coal Exports to Israel

Colombian President Gustavo Petro. (Photo: via UN website)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed on Sunday a presidential decree to ban coal exports to Israel.

The Colombian president said upon signing the decree that the ban comes to exert pressure on the government of Israel to end its war on the besieged Gaza Strip. 

The decree dates to August 14 and will come into effect next week, according to the American news website Bloomberg reported. 

Gustav commented on the ban in a post on his X account saying that the “Colombian coal is used to manufacture bombs that kill Palestinian children.

Tense Relations

The Colombian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism called last June on sale restrictions of coal to the Jewish state saying that Colombia is the biggest supplier of black gold to Israel.

Colombia joined that same month 60 other countries, organizations and individuals in submitting a request that was accepted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), to intervene in Prosecutor Karim Khan’s application to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas officials.

This came after President Gustavo Petro described in May the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “genocidal” and urged the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping forces to Gaza.

“There is no other alternative than international peacekeeping forces in the Gaza Strip. Colombia will be part of these forces,” he stated on X.

Colombia has officially severed its diplomatic ties with Israel beginning of May due to the ongoing Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

Colombia has also joined the genocide case initiated by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Hamas Hails the Move

The Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas has welcomed the Colombian ban and urged other countries to follow suit by imposing sanctions on Tel Aviv and bringing its leaders to justice.

​​In a statement issued on Sunday, the movement said that they “highly appreciate the statement made by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in which he reaffirmed his country’s decision to prohibit the export of coal to the Zionist entity and his statement, ‘Colombian coal is used to manufacture bombs that kill Palestinian children’.”

‘More Countries will Recognize Palestine’ – Colombia to Open Embassy in Ramallah

“We express our gratitude for the brave stance of the Republic of Colombia in ending diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity, in condemnation of the genocide that the Zionist occupation is committing against our people in the Gaza Strip,” the statement continued.

It also called “on all countries to sever their relations with this fascist entity, to work by all means to boycott, isolate, and impose sanctions on it, and to prosecute its leaders as war criminals in international courts.”

(PC, WAFA)

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1 Comment

  1. Good. Hit them where it hurts.
    Now, who supplies the Zionists with those funny hats they use to cover their bald spots?? get them to stop supplying those, see how fast the war ends because they’re ashamed to be seen on camera.
    ( sardonic humor 101 )

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