Embassy Moves into Disputed City: Colombia's Right-Wing Government Reverses Gaza War Break, Plants Israel Embassy in Jerusalem

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced this week that the Colombian embassy in Israel will officially open in Jerusalem next week. According to AFP, Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar will depart for Jerusalem on Sunday to make final preparations for the opening.

This is the most symbolic step in the comprehensive warming of Israel-Colombia relations since Abelardo De la Espriella assumed the Colombian presidency in August 2026. During his campaign, De la Espriella pledged to deepen ties with Israel; upon taking office, he restored diplomatic relations with Israel, reversing the previous government's decision to sever ties in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza.

"Next Wednesday, we will hold the inauguration ceremony for the Colombian embassy," Saar told attendees at a conference in Jerusalem, adding that "we will work hard, because this is a diplomatic battle over truth. And the truth is, Jerusalem has historically been the capital of only one people." Saar's remarks directly negated Palestinian sovereignty claims to the city as their historic capital.

According to a review by Al Jazeera, since 2018, the United States, Guatemala, Paraguay, Kosovo, Honduras, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Nauru, and Somaliland — recognized only by Israel — have successively moved or established their embassies in Israel in Jerusalem. The vast majority of countries still keep their embassies in Tel Aviv, and the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

At the same event, Saar revealed that the Democratic Republic of Congo would open an embassy in Jerusalem "soon," and said that after right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro won the first round of Brazil's presidential election, "Brazil may take a similar step." This represents the Israeli foreign minister's latest and most explicit public forecast and push regarding the diplomatic direction of multiple Latin American countries — a country whose military operations in Gaza continue unabated is, through embassy siting, defining and expanding its capital's diplomatic recognition among multiple national capitals.

According to Al Jazeera, Colombia's new government's pro-Israel line has already provoked substantive pushback. Protests erupted in Bogotá on Wednesday against the Jerusalem embassy decision and the new government's pro-Israel policy. Participant Nicolas Isaza told the outlet: "When ties with Israel were severed, the message conveyed was that this country would not be complicit in its atrocities. Today, our government no longer draws a line against the atrocities being committed against Palestinians."

Bogotá's choice to relocate its embassy into the disputed city amounts to tying itself, amid ongoing military operations in Gaza, to the simultaneous expansion of Israel's diplomatic push for recognition of its capital — binding itself to both trends.