Israel condemned on Thursday Belize’s decision to suspend diplomatic relations, saying it amounted to “surrendering to Hamas’s terrorism and aligning with the axis of evil led by Iran.”
“The government of Belize is blatantly ignoring the Oct. 7 massacre in which more than 1,200 people, including babies, women and the elderly, were brutally murdered, many in their own homes, by the Hamas terrorist organization,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
“The government of Belize is also ignoring the 240 people kidnapped by a terrorist organization worse than ISIS,” it added.
The government of the Central American nation accused Israel of “unceasing indiscriminate bombing” in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, saying it would expel Israeli Ambassador Einat Kranz-Neiger and withdraw the request for accreditation for its honorary consul in the Jewish state.
Since Oct. 7, “Israel has consistently violated international law,” Belize charged.
The Israeli ministry statement emphasized that Israel “acts and will continue to act in accordance with international law, while Hamas commits war crimes and crimes against humanity, cynically using hospitals and the civilian population of Gaza as human shields.”
Earlier this month, Bolivia announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Israel over the war against Hamas, while Colombia and Chile said they were recalling their ambassadors.
Days earlier, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized what he called “the insanity of the prime minister of Israel [in] wanting to destroy the Gaza Strip but forgetting that there aren’t just Hamas soldiers there but also women and children who are the big victims of this war.”
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Brazil have in recent years all elected far-left leaders.