Nicaragua severs ties with Israel over Gaza war, calls it ‘enemy of humanity’
Managua says Israeli government is ‘fascist and genocidal,’ however move is essentially symbolic as diplomatic ties between the countries are virtually nonexistent
The Times of Israel
Oct 12, 2024
Nicaragua announced on Friday plans to break off relations with Israel over the war in Gaza, calling the Israeli government “fascist and genocidal.”
Nicaragua’s left-wing President Daniel Ortega, who has been fiercely critical of Israel’s yearlong war with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, ordered ties to be cut, said Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also Ortega’s wife.
The move is an essentially symbolic one, with ties between Israel and the central American country virtually nonexistent.
Israel has no ambassador in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua.
The decision was taken by the Nicaraguan government, which passed a resolution calling Israel an “enemy of humanity.”
The resolution added that Nicaragua stood against “genocide, occupation and permanent aggression against the life and dignity of the Palestinian people, which is now spreading to the people of Lebanon and seriously threatening Syria, Yemen, and Iran, endangering peace and security in the region and the world.”
It also “reiterated [Nicaragua’s] warm and constant consideration for the dear families of the Israeli people, who deserve our affection, support, and solidarity, and who are living difficult times as a result of the excessive brutality and hatred of the Israeli government.”
Nicaragua has twice before broken off ties with Israel — once in 2010 under Ortega as well as in 1982 under the Sandinista revolutionary government led by Ortega following the country’s 1979 revolution.
The country’s decision to cut ties with Israel over the war in Gaza follows similar decisions by Bolivia in November and Colombia in May. The latter break in relations was the most significant, however, as it marked an end to a seven-decade relationship that was historically one of Israel’s closest in Latin America.
The war in Gaza has been ongoing for more than a year since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel last year in which the group’s terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Israel launched a ground invasion with the proclaimed objectives of dismantling Hamas and securing the release of the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 350.
Since the war began, Iran and its proxies have also attacked Israel. Hezbollah launched near-daily rocket and drone attacks at northern Israel since October 8, saying they were in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel eventually scaled up its response to Hezbollah, carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon that killed the majority of the terrorist organization’s leadership, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah, and launching a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon earlier this month aimed at destroying Hezbollah infrastructure close to the Israeli border.
In the wake of Nasrallah’s killing and the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, which Iran blamed Israel for, Iran launched an attack of some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1.
There have also been multiple attacks on Israel by Iran-backed militia from Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
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