Welcome to World Brief. It covers deteriorating relations between Israel and Latin America, the new prime minister of the Solomon Islands, and French President Emmanuel Macron’s reaffirmation of the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.
Welcome to World Brief. It covers deteriorating relations between Israel and Latin America, the new prime minister of the Solomon Islands, and French President Emmanuel Macron’s reaffirmation of the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.
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Israel loses a friend
Colombia severed diplomatic relations with Israel on Thursday, becoming the third country in Latin America to do so since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023. “If Palestine dies, humanity dies,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on May Day. At Wednesday’s rally, he called Israel’s military operation in Gaza a “genocide.”
In response, Israel issued a harsh condemnation. Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Petro “anti-Semitic and hateful.” accused He is on the side of Hamas.
Colombia once had close ties with Israel. In the late 1980s, Bogota purchased Israeli Kfir fighter jets to counter guerrilla camps in remote areas, ultimately helping to weaken the extremist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In the decades that followed, Colombia regularly engaged with the Israeli military, purchasing Israeli-made fighter jets and machine guns to fight drug cartels and rebel groups. The two countries also signed a free trade agreement in 2020.
But Petro, the country’s first leftist president, has distanced himself from positions held by his conservative and centrist predecessors since taking office in 2022. Petro has announced that Israel’s military operations will be denied after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant vowed in October 2023 to compare Hamas fighters to “animals” and deny food, fuel and electricity to Gaza. compared to Nazi Germany’s military operations. The United States and Israel quickly condemned his comments, and Israel pledged to halt all security exports to Colombia.
Later that month, Chilean President Gabriel Borich, a fellow leftist like Petro, recalled the two countries’ ambassadors from Israel. In January, Petro supported South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, and Colombia filed a declaration of intervention joining the lawsuit in April following a similar motion by Nicaragua. Colombia also said after Israeli forces opened fire near a group of Palestinians collecting food from an aid convoy in Gaza City, causing a stampede that killed more than 100 people and injured 760. In February, it stopped purchasing weapons from Israel.
Colombia’s decision to sever ties is the latest move by Latin American countries away from Israel in a region with historical ties to the Palestinian movement. In October last year, Bolivia, which also has a left-wing government, severed diplomatic relations with Israel, citing “aggressive and disproportionate” attacks in Gaza. A few days later, Honduras recalled its ambassador, and Belize suspended diplomatic relations in mid-November.
Many Latin American countries, including Colombia, are calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. However, talks to secure a ceasefire agreement are still ongoing. Israel’s war cabinet convened on Thursday to discuss a cease-fire proposal that includes two steps to free the hostages, a 40-day cease-fire and increased aid to Gaza. Senior ministers also discussed the possibility of an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Hamas officials said Thursday that they were still negotiating the terms of a cease-fire agreement and would send a delegation to Egypt “as soon as possible” to finalize negotiations.
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New leadership in the Pacific region. Solomon Islands’ parliamentarians on Thursday elected former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele as the country’s new prime minister. The April 17 general election yielded no clear winner, forcing lawmakers to use behind-closed-doors discussions to form a government. They voted 31 to 18 in favor of Manele, defeating former opposition leader Matthew Wale. Solomon Islands members are not tied to political parties.
Manele, like outgoing Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, is a pro-China politician at a time when Washington and Beijing are competing for influence in the Indo-Pacific region. While serving as foreign minister, Mr Manele helped switch Honiara’s diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China in 2019, and in 2022 a secret security agreement giving Chinese vessels full access to the Solomon Islands. concluded with the Chinese government. The United States is concerned that this could lead to Beijing setting up military bases there, but both countries deny such plans.
President Macron’s message to Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron told The Economist on Thursday that Paris would not rule out sending French troops to Ukraine. He said the issue would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through the front lines in Ukraine and Kiev requested the dispatch of soldiers, which so far has not responded. “At the NATO summit in summer 2022, we all ruled out the delivery of tanks, deep attack missiles and aircraft. We are currently in the process of working on this, so it would be wrong to exclude the rest.” said Mr. Macron.
Last week, the French leader claimed that Russian aggression posed an existential threat to Europe, warning that the continent “could be destroyed”. Macron first publicly proposed sending troops to Ukraine in February, days after Kiev marked the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, but faced fierce criticism from Europe.
Immigration aid. The European Union on Thursday stepped up its border control operations and reduced the number of asylum seekers and other migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, from Lebanon to Cyprus and Syria via the Mediterranean Sea. announced a $1 billion aid package. Italy. The funds will be used to support the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, as well as provide training, equipment and infrastructure to improve border controls. In the first three months of 2024, more than 2,000 people arrived in Cyprus by sea, compared to just 78 in the same period last year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a meeting with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides that “the challenges Lebanon faces in hosting Syrian refugees and other displaced persons” I understand the challenges faced.” He said aid distribution would begin this year and continue until 2027. The package will also help strengthen Lebanon’s education and health services and support economic reforms.
Probability and outcome
Researchers discovered the world’s largest underwater sinkhole in Mexico’s Chetumal Bay, but were unable to find the bottom. The report, published Monday in Frontiers in Marine Science, says the Ta’am Jah Blue Hole is at least 1,378 feet deep, which is enough for New York City’s Empire State Building (not including its antenna) to be deep. This means that it could fit inside. Scientists said they needed to use more advanced techniques to continue the investigation.
