Colombia Opens Jerusalem Embassy; 19 Ministers Demand Reversal
Colombia opened its Jerusalem embassy on Oct. 14, capping a reversal of Petro’s break with Israel. Nineteen foreign ministers called on Bogotá to undo it.
October 16, 2026 — Nineteen foreign ministers from Muslim-majority states and Palestine on Thursday condemned Colombia’s opening of an embassy in Jerusalem and called on Bogotá to reverse it. The joint statement, issued through Türkiye’s foreign ministry, said the move “contravenes relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions” and undermines efforts toward a two-state solution.
Colombia’s Jerusalem embassy opened on October 14. Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar presided over the ceremony alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Colombia’s foreign ministry said. Ambassador Tania Gilinski heads the mission.
From rupture to Jerusalem in two years
The move completes a fast reversal. Former President Gustavo Petro severed relations with Israel in May 2024 over the Gaza war, closed the embassy in Tel Aviv and recalled the ambassador, Israel National News recalled. His successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, took office in August and restored ties that month.
Israel’s foreign ministry has described the package agreed with Bula before the inauguration: full diplomatic relations, immediate appointment of ambassadors, visa-free travel and the embassy move. It also listed a resumption of Colombian coal exports to Israel, withdrawal from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and an exit from the “Hague Group,” according to the ministry’s account of an August 6 meeting between Sa’ar and the president-elect. Bogotá has not detailed every one of those steps in its own statements. The two governments also reinstated their free trade agreement on October 13, Israel National News reported.
At the ceremony, Bula said relations “should never have been broken,” Al Jazeera and AFP reported. “Israel is a strategic partner. It always has been, and from now on, it will be an even stronger one,” he said. The Colombian ministry’s statement framed the mission around security, investment, technology transfer and artificial intelligence.
Sa’ar called it “the tenth embassy to open in Jerusalem,” up from five when he took office less than two years ago. He credited de la Espriella with keeping a campaign promise.
The objections
The Palestinian foreign ministry called the opening “a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions,” TRT World reported. Jordan said measures to change Jerusalem’s status are “null and void,” and Saudi Arabia called the step a “blatant violation of international law.”
Thursday’s joint statement put those objections in one text. It cites Security Council Resolutions 476 and 478 of 1980, which reject changes to Jerusalem’s status and call on states to withdraw diplomatic missions from the city. The signatories were Türkiye, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a step most states do not recognize, as the capital of a future state. Most countries keep their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Who has moved
| Country | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Moved from Tel Aviv in 2018, during Trump’s first term | Al Jazeera/AFP |
| Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay | Latin American governments listed as having followed the U.S. | Al Jazeera/AFP |
| Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Nauru | Pacific states listed as having followed the U.S. | Al Jazeera/AFP |
| Kosovo, Somaliland | Not UN member states; operate what they consider embassies | Al Jazeera/AFP |
| Colombia | Opened October 14, 2026; Sa’ar called it the tenth embassy in Jerusalem | Colombian and Israeli foreign ministries |
Compiled by Peter’s World from Al Jazeera/AFP (Oct. 14, 2026) and the foreign ministry statements linked in this article. Dates of individual moves other than the U.S. and Colombia are not given here.
What it means
Peter’s World analysis, based on the sources cited above.
Colombia is larger, by population and by economy, than any other country Al Jazeera lists as having followed the United States to Jerusalem since 2018. Most of those were small states closely aligned with Washington, so Bogotá’s move changes the profile of the group.
The bigger shift is in Colombia’s own alignment. Under Petro it was among Israel’s sharpest critics in Latin America; within ten weeks of taking office, his successor restored ties, revived trade and moved the embassy. The ministers’ statement asks Bogotá to reverse course but announces no measures, so the test is whether any signatory goes beyond words.
What to watch: whether any signatory recalls an envoy or restricts trade with Colombia; the formal record of Colombia’s ICJ withdrawal; and whether other Latin American governments follow.
Sources
- Cancillería de Colombia: Colombia inaugura su Embajada en Jerusalén (Oct. 14, 2026)
- Türkiye MFA: Joint Statement by 19 Foreign Ministers (Oct. 16, 2026)
- Al Jazeera/AFP: Colombia inaugurates embassy to Israel in Jerusalem (Oct. 14, 2026)
