The nation of Colombia is not exactly a failed state. Its economy is functioning... sort of. Its government is elected... as far as that goes. However, Colombia, ranked 92 out of 180 countries in the Transparency International index, has a notoriously corrupt police force and is a hub for drug cartels.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion in Colombia and there is a strong civil legal structure in place that makes that possible. However, the country's president, Gustavo Petro, has recently demonstrated some anti-Semitic attitudes that threaten the Jewish community.
The American Jewish Committee cites five ways that Petro has been spreading antisemitism, including his statements following the October 7 attacks, where he refused to condemn Hamas and instead criticized Israel. He has also accused Israel of genocide and has moved to cut ties with the Jewish state,
Petro's actions mark a departure from the two nations' previous warm relations.
Petro’s decision ended seven decades of generally warm Israel-Colombia ties that go back to the early dates of the Jewish state. Over the decades, their relationship has been characterized by mutual cooperation, particularly in areas of defense, agriculture, and technology. Colombia has often sought Israeli expertise in counter-terrorism and military training, while Israel has provided assistance in agricultural development and innovation. Trade between the two nations had also grown steadily, encompassing sectors like pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agro-technology. Former president Ivan Duque opened a trade office in Jerusalem, recognizing the value Israel added to his country.
But amid Petro’s hostility, Israel had halted security exports. At the same time, Colombia also supported South Africa’s case brought to the International Court of Justice, which baselessly accused Israel of committing genocide.
The most recent outrage is Petro's appointment of a new director of religious affairs, Dr. Richard Gamboa Ben-Eleazar, who purports to be a rabbi but never attended rabbinical school or received a Master of Rabbinic Studies, nor was he ever ordained a rabbi.
He got his rabbinical ordination from an online source named (appropriately) the "Esoteric Theological Seminary," which promises ordination for those who complete "three easy steps."
“Gamboa is a fraud,” said the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “He lacks rabbinical training, congregation, and scruples,” the group added in its statement.
In addition to his dubious rabbinical standing, the center also pointed to Mr. Gamboa friendship with the Iranian ambassador in Colombia and his anti-Israel activism. The group cited social media posts in which he labels Israel “neo-Nazi state” and states that Zionism is “an anti-Jewish, idolatrous, and apostate heresy.” Mr. Gamboa flaunts his anti-Zionist stance in his bio on X in which he labels himself a “human rights defender” and an “anti-Zionist.”
As director of religious affairs, Mr. Gamboa has expressed his intentions to repeal the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Definition of Antisemitism, which is widely accepted by the international Jewish community, and has vowed to “hunt down zionist propagandists,” the center alleges.
“He uses this fake investiture to, from a supposedly Jewish position, establish a narrative against Israel and condemn it for genocide against the Palestinian people, justifying Petro’s official antisemitism,” the center laments.
Anti-Semitism as a disease isn't necessarily spreading around the world. It's just that October 7 has smoked the cockroaches out of the woodwork, and, for whatever reason, the anti-Semites feel emboldened to show their true colors to the world.
We see it on college campuses and in the highest ranks of the oldest political party in the Western world: the Democratic Party. We see it in the casual, nauseating anti-Semitism displayed in defacing synagogues and Jewish community centers.
"I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm anti-Zionist" is their cop-out. President Petro and his fake director of religious affairs need to be called out for their hate.
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