Israel’s new ambassador to Chile, Gil Artzyeli (left), at an event at a synagogue in the Chilean coastal city of Vina del Mar.
(dpa) The initially refused accreditation of the Israeli ambassador in Chile caused a dispute between the two countries. The diplomat Gil Artzyeli should have submitted his accreditation letter to Chile’s President Gabriel Boric on Friday. However, the appointment was canceled at short notice. According to media reports, the reason for this was an Israeli military operation in the West Bank, in which a 17-year-old is said to have died. The accreditation of the ambassador is now to be made up for in October.
“Israel regards Chile’s unprecedented and worrying behavior as extremely serious,” said a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry. “The incident will significantly affect the relationship between the two countries.” The Chilean ambassador to Israel was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for Sunday.
Artzyeli later said Chilean officials had repeatedly apologized to him personally and to the State of Israel. “It was a very uncomfortable moment for me this morning, but I’m Israeli and Jewish – worse things have happened to my people in the past 4,000 years,” the diplomat told the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio. “We will overcome this incident for the good of Chile and Israel and our bilateral relationship.”