B’nai B’rith President Robert Spitzer and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, along with B’nai B’rith Latin America, have issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International strongly condemns the ongoing anti-Jewish statements made by Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Petro’s public use of phrases including, “The Jewish people are not the chosen people,” and “Those who believe they are the chosen people and are superior to others lead to the massacres of the other people,” as well as “International Zionism controls the media,” are accompanied by an openly hostile attitude against the Colombian Jewish community that has seen its institutional security threatened after the appointment last month of a rabbi whose credentials have been rejected by the Colombian Jewish community, as “director of the Office of Religious Freedom,” a department of the Ministry of the Interior, who referred in the past to the Jewish Community Organizations of Colombia as “heretical,” “apostate,” “non-Jewish,” “Nazis,” because of the universal support by the Jewish community to the State of Israel and the Zionist movement.

At the same time, Petro’s saying that the Holocaust “was just training for the real thing: Gaza,” accusing critical journalists of being “Mossad and Goebbels,” inviting anti-Semitic singer Roger Waters to a free concert, and retweeting the post “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” all demonstrate his anti-Semitic, discriminatory and provocative attitude, placing the Colombian Jewish community in a position of clear vulnerability which could have serious consequences for the physical and emotional health of its members.

The recurrent hostile and anti-Semitic statements and postings by the president of Colombia are creating a very uncomfortable environment for the Jewish community in the country and may endanger the security of Jewish institutions, leaders and individuals. For this reason, the former U.S. State Department Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Deborah Lipstadt issued a statement, reposted by the U.S. embassy in Bogota, condemning Petro’s remarks.

Colombia, a signatory to international agreements that protect minorities, is obligated to guarantee the safety of its Jewish citizens. This is especially relevant because Colombia adopted the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism in June 2022. Petro has systematically ignored this document since he came to power in August 2022.

We urge all relevant national and international bodies to intervene immediately and demand the cessation of the systematic anti-Semitic harassment perpetrated by Petro. Petro’s verbal attacks are exposing the Colombian Jewish community to a dangerous level of hatred.