Latin America comes out in force against Israel

AFP, Montevideo :
Latin America’s leaders are among the most vehement in condemning Israel’s Gaza offensive-labelling the Jewish state “terrorist”, recalling ambassadors, and offering near-unanimous, unwavering support to Palestinians.
“I can’t remember another similar situation where (all the countries in the region) have reacted practically as a bloc,” said political scientist Reginaldo Nasser, a professor at the Pontifical University in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
One of the most symbolic recent developments came from Bolivian President Evo Morales-one of the leaders of Latin America’s far left-who put Israel on its list of “Terrorist States” and eliminated a visa waiver program for Israeli citizens.
More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed and 8,000 injured, two-thirds of them civilians, in Gaza in 24 days of fighting between Hamas and Israel. The conflict has also cost the lives of 61 Israeli soldiers, as well as two civilians and a Thai farm worker killed by rocket fire. More than 245 of the dead Palestinians were children, UNICEF has said.
Brazil President Dilma Rousseff this week called the Israeli military operation a “massacre.” Tensions between the two countries had already escalated a week earlier, when Brazil recalled its envoy from Tel Aviv, a move that prompted Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman to call the Latin American powerhouse a “diplomatic dwarf”.
Rousseff’s condemnation did not go as far as some of her peers. Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro denounced “a war of extermination that has lasted nearly a century” against the Palestinian people. A lawmaker from his party used the term “genocide”-a term rejected by Rousseff.
Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and El Salvador have also recalled their ambassadors for consultations, while Costa Rica and Argentina, which have the largest Jewish populations in the region, called the Israeli ambassador for meetings at their foreign ministries.
The region has universally condemned the violence from Israeli military operations, urged a ceasefire and the resumption of negotiations between the two sides.
On Thursday, Uruguay President Jose Mujica asked for “an immediate withdrawal” of Israeli troops from Gaza and suggested it may also recall its envoy in Tel Aviv.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor expressed “deep disappointment” over the recalls, saying they constituted “encouragement for Hamas, a group recognized as a terror organization by many countries around the world.”