Colombia recognizes Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights
Colombia on Monday recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming one of the few countries to do so as newly inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella rapidly reverses predecessor Gustavo Petro’s policies and rebuilds Colombia’s once-close relationship with Israel.
The announcement came three days after De la Espriella, a staunch Israel supporter who has promised a sweeping foreign policy shift, was sworn in Friday. It followed Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s visit for the inauguration and his meeting with De la Espriella in Barranquilla Thursday.
“Given the persistent regional instability in the Middle East” and the Golan’s strategic importance to Israel’s security, Colombia said it recognizes Israel’s sovereignty over the territory and its right to defend itself. It cited decades of security threats that intensified in recent years, culminating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and said Israeli control of the Golan is essential to Israel’s national security and ability to protect its citizens.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and extended its law, jurisdiction and administration there in 1981. Most countries do not recognize Israeli sovereignty. The United States broke with that consensus in 2019 under President Donald Trump.
Sa’ar called Colombia’s decision “historic,” thanked De la Espriella and Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar, and said he would seek additional countries’ recognition. He said defensible borders are essential for Israel because it lacks strategic depth.
De la Espriella, 48, was inaugurated Friday in Cali after rising rapidly from celebrity criminal lawyer and businessman to president. He narrowly defeated Petro-aligned leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda in June, ending four years of leftist national government and placing Colombia within a broader Latin American rightward trend.
In his inaugural address, he pledged a major crackdown on drug trafficking and illegal armed groups, a smaller state, measures to revive oil and gas industries and an end to Petro’s approach of negotiating with multiple armed groups. Relations with the United States and Israel are central to his foreign policy shift, with De la Espriella cultivating ties with Israel and aligning himself with the Trump administration.
His planned Jerusalem embassy would be another major diplomatic gesture. Most countries keep embassies around Tel Aviv because of Jerusalem’s unresolved international status. Israel considers Jerusalem its capital, while the United States moved its embassy there in 2018 under Trump and several other countries have followed. De la Espriella confirmed Colombia would join them. His government has suspended Petro’s Ramallah embassy plans, though Colombia is not expected to withdraw its recognition of a Palestinian state, which it recognized in 2018.
Restored ties, the Jerusalem embassy, renewed trade and security cooperation, withdrawal from initiatives against Israel and Golan recognition together represent one of Colombia’s fastest foreign policy reversals.
