Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned Chilean leaders after the South American country’s president suspended acceptance of the new Israeli ambassador’s credentials due to the army’s intensification in the West Bank.
“Israel views Chile’s disconcerting and unprecedented behavior harshly. This seriously damages both countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
He said Chile’s ambassador to Israel had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a defamation on Sunday, “where obviously Israel’s reaction will be explained to the ambassador. “
Israel’s ambassador, Gil Artzyeli, visited government offices in Chile’s capital, Santiago, on Thursday to deliver his credentials to President Gabriel Boric and other diplomats, but stopped in his tracks.
A diplomatic official familiar with the incident who was not authorized to speak officially told The Associated Press that Artzyeli “was already there, waiting to enter the room, when the foreign minister approached him and told him that because of an incident that had occurred . . . With the death of a 17-year-old boy in an Israeli army operation, the president had made the decision in this context to postpone the presentation of credentials.
No date has yet been set for the submission of credentials, he said.
Israeli forces shot and killed Odai Salah in Judea and Samaria on Thursday, according to Palestinian officials. The Israeli military said it opened fire on suspects who threw explosives at infantrymen patrolling the home of two Palestinian gunmen who killed an Israeli officer in a shootout on Wednesday.
After the incident generated controversy in Chile, Artzyeli summoned the Chilean Foreign Ministry for Thursday afternoon.
“They have apologized to me and to the State of Israel many times,” Artzyeli told reporters after a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Ximena Fuentes. They’ve been through worse things in the last 4,000 years. And this morning’s incident we will overcome for the sake of Chile, for the sake of Israel and for our bilateral relations.
A source quoted through the Walla news site denied that Chile had apologized for postponing the ceremony and apologized only for not informing Artzyeli in advance.
In Chile, an organization of 21 lawmakers criticized Boric for giving them a “slap” of “unprecedented” proportions.
“President Boric is boycotting bilateral relations, improvising a resolution when the ambassador was in the Foreign Ministry,” lawmakers who are part of a Chilean-Israeli interparliamentary organization said in a letter Friday. years of friendship between Chile and Israel. “
Several opposition lawmakers independently criticized Boric for the decision.
Boric, a leftist, has spoken out against Israel and its military operations. In a television interview last year, Boric, who became Chile’s president in March, was asked if he maintained his previous view that Israel is a “genocidal and murderous” country. State. ” I’m through him,” he replied.
In 2019, Chile’s Jewish network sent Boric a jar of honey to celebrate the Jewish New Year. Boric responded on Twitter: “I appreciate the gesture, but it is possible that they will simply start asking Israel to return to illegally occupied Palestinian territory. “
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