Editor TLN
Sep. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of Chile has reported this Saturday that finally the delivery of credential letters of the designated ambassador of Israel, Gil Artzyeli, for next September 30, after the controversy unleashed last Thursday by the decision of the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, to postpone receipt of credentials in protest at the death of a Palestinian in an Israeli military operation in the West Bank.
“The decision to postpone the presentation of Credentials must be understood within the framework of the political sensitivity generated by the death of a 17-year-old Palestinian adolescent, in the north of the West Bank, during an operation by the Israeli Army, which occurred the same day of that presentation,” explained the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The text highlights that it is “an exceptional measure” and reiterates its “permanent willingness to maintain a fraternal and constructive relationship with the State of Israel and its people, based on respect, dialogue and cooperation.”
“Furthermore, the Government of Chile uses this opportunity to reiterate its willingness to contribute to the construction of a world in peace, understanding the latter not only as one without conflicts, but also as one in which equity, justice and respect for human rights and that allows constructive relations of coexistence and cooperation between peoples,” the statement concludes.
Boric, who has described Israel in the past as a “genocidal and murderous” state due to its policy towards the Palestinian people, should have received Artzyeli last Thursday at the Palacio de la Moneda.
The Government has admitted that the cancellation of the appointment had political intent, according to sources quoted by the newspaper ‘El Mercurio’, although the controversy generated has resulted in the ambassador being summoned to the Foreign Ministry hours later.
Artzyeli has confirmed to the media at the end of the meeting, “more than an hour”, that the Executive has apologized to both him and the State of Israel after the incident, “not very comfortable” in the words of the ambassador.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has considered Chile’s “disconcerting and unprecedented behavior” “extremely serious”. “It seriously affects relations between countries,” a spokesman warned.
Later, Israel’s Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Emmanuel Nahhon, announced on his Twitter profile that they would summon the Chilean ambassador, Jorge Carvajal, to make a “reprimand call.”
