Colombia stops coal exports to Israel because of Gaza war

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Saturday that his country would stop coal exports to Israel because of the Gaza war, as relations have deteriorated between the two countries, once close military and commercial allies.

Petro wrote on the social media platform X that coal exports would not resume until “the genocide” in Gaza stops. Petro also published a draft decree stating that coal exports would only resume if Israel complied with a recent International Court of Justice order requiring Israel to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip.

According to Colombia’s statistics office, coal exports to Israel totaled over $320 million in the first eight months of last year, a small fraction of the country’s total coal exports, which were valued at over $9 billion in 2023.

According to the American Journal for Transportation, Israel imports more than 50 percent of its coal from Colombia and uses much of it to power its power plants.

Petro, who was elected in 2022 as Colombia’s first left-wing president, broke off diplomatic relations with Israel in May, saying he could not maintain relations with the “genocidal” government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Both governments continue to maintain consulates on each other’s territory and engage in trade.

Colombia has long depended on Israel for military equipment such as assault rifles and reconnaissance gear. The South American country has also bought more than 30 fighter jets from Israel over the past thirty years and relies on Israeli companies to maintain them.

However, new arms purchases have been halted as relations between the two countries deteriorate. Critics of Petro have said the president’s decision to sever ties with Israel threatens Colombia’s security as its military battles drug cartels and rebel groups in rural areas of the country.

Others, however, welcomed Petro’s latest move against Israel. The Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, an advocacy group that tries to persuade countries around the world to stop exporting coal and oil to Israel, said in a statement on Saturday that Colombia’s decision could put pressure on Israel to change its policy in Gaza and would also put pressure on Israeli settlements in the West Bank that rely on coal-fired power plants.

“We urge South Africa, which supplies 9 percent of Israel’s coal, to follow Colombia’s example,” the group said in a statement. They also called on other countries with significant energy exports to consider a ban.

Unlike previous Colombian presidents who maintained close ties with Israel, Petro was an outspoken critic of the Middle Eastern state and initially refused to condemn the Hamas attack that preceded the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.