Chile cancels Israeli participation in Latin America’s largest aerospace fair

Chile said on March 5 it will exclude Israeli firms from Latin America’s biggest aerospace fair, to be held in Santiago in April.

“By decision of the Government of Chile, the 2024 version of the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE), to be held between 9 and 14 April, will not have the participation of Israeli companies,” a defence ministry statement said, according to The Times of Israel.

It did not give a reason, but the government of leftist President Gabriel Boric has been critical of what he has called Israel’s “disproportionate” response to the October 7 attack by Hamas, which saw thousands of terrorists storm southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and take over 250 hostages.

Israel’s offensive has claimed the lives of over 30,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The figure, which cannot be independently verified, includes some 13,000 Hamas terrorists Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 gunmen inside Israel on October 7.

The fighting has also seen about half the Gaza Strip’s residences destroyed, displacing over a million Palestinians, many of whom face severe risk of starvation.

Chile, which has the largest Palestinian population outside the Arab world, recalled its ambassador to Israel in late October to protest Israel’s “unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza.

Mexico and Chile in January joined calls for an investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes in the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel’s ambassador in Chile Gil Artzyeli told AFP on March 5 he had not been contacted by the government with the FIDAE news.

“We cannot say we are surprised taking into account the (Chilean) government’s doctrine towards Israel,” he said.