Why Chile's stance on Israel-Hamas conflict stands out in Latin America Home to largest Palestinian diaspora outside of Middle East

Chile, being home to a Palestinian community of around 300,000 people, has portrayed a harsher position regarding the recent escalation between Israel and the Hamas militant group than did other Latin American countries, which are to a large extent influenced by their either pro- or anti-Western overall policies, as the Foreign Policy journal reported. Caliber.Az reprints this article.

"In the aftermath of Hamas’s gruesome attack on Israel on October 7, governments across Latin America began issuing statements reacting to the event. As is common in the global south, most Latin American countries diplomatically recognize Palestine. Many of their official statements, in addition to condemning Hamas, went further to urge de-escalation and dialogue to peacefully resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena, for example, tweeted that 'Mexico advocates peace, dialogue, and the protection of civilians without qualification. We urge an end to indiscriminate attacks and violence against civilians by Hamas and by the Israeli army in Gaza'.

'I was shocked by the terrorist attacks carried out against civilians in Israel', Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tweeted. 'Brazil will not spare efforts to prevent the conflict from escalating'. Of any Latin American country, Brazil carries the most potential to influence the Israel-Hamas war in its capacity as temporary chair of the United Nations Security Council.

Brasília has used that space to try to advocate for immediate de-escalation—but in the first emergency session it chaired on the war, members failed to agree on a joint statement. An envoy for the United States, which had pushed for language strongly condemning 'these heinous terrorist attacks committed by Hamas', said that some countries on the council did not support that phrasing, so no statement was made.

The few Latin American leaders who stopped short of directly condemning the Hamas attack were those of countries with a hard anti-Western or anti-American streak in their foreign policies. Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are perhaps unsurprising members of this list, while Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—who has prided himself on publicly standing up to the United States—swerved away from his foreign ministry’s line and spoke only vaguely, saying he would not take sides in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro—while generally calling for peace—has sent dozens of tweets this week criticizing Israel’s 15-year blockade and current siege of the Gaza Strip and comparing Israeli actions this week to those of Nazis during the Holocaust. This equation prompted open criticism from both Israeli and U.S. diplomats, while 12 former Colombian foreign ministers published a letter of repudiation saying broadly that recent comments from Petro and the foreign ministry, which often took its cues from the president, 'weaken the institutionality of our diplomacy'.

Some leaders’ statements highlighted the Palestinian and Jewish diasporas in their countries. In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele pointed out his own Palestinian background before saying that Hamas should be treated using the same harsh means that he employs to deal with armed gangs.

In Argentina, home to Latin America’s largest Jewish population—and where a Jewish community center was bombed in 1994 in an act that investigators in multiple countries have blamed on Hezbollah—President Alberto Fernández emphatically condemned Hamas’s attacks and pledged the solidarity of all of the Argentine people with Israel. He added that Argentina stood for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

Chile, for its part, is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside of the Middle East. Migration peaked in the early 20th century, and the Palestinian Chilean population is estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000 people. The size of the community has impacted Chilean culture, domestic politics, and foreign policy for years. A first-division soccer club is named Palestino FC, and its logo features the colors of the Palestinian flag. The Chilean legislature boasts a large Palestinian caucus. In 2005, Chile became one of the first non-Arab countries to join the Arab League as an observer.

A smaller Jewish community of some 20,000 people also live in the country, and Chile has deepened its relationship with Israel in recent decades, in part through trade. Chile’s Palestinian and Jewish communities have at times had their public disagreements, often related to contemporary Israeli-Palestinian relations. But for the most part, they have managed to coexist.

Powerful Chilean congressional and private sector groups have campaigned for Palestinian human rights for years, and the public conversation about the escalating situation in Israel-Palestine over the past week has often taken a more long-term, historical perspective than elsewhere in the Americas, including in the United States.

Chilean analysts who have appeared on television and radio programs and written in newspapers following this weekend’s attack have spoken not only about Hamas’s rampage through southern Israel but also about its broader context. They mentioned the more than 15-year Israeli military blockade on Gaza and fears that mass atrocities are now unfolding there. Israel has placed Gaza under a 'complete siege'—cutting off electricity and banning food, water, fuel, medicine, and humanitarian support from entering—and is relentlessly bombing the territory, which Gazans cannot leave.

That’s not to say that Chile’s public debate was without major rifts and controversies. The Palestinian Chilean mayor of a municipality within the Santiago metropolitan area, Daniel Jadue, tweeted immediately after the attack that 'the people of Palestine have a right to resist' before later condemning violence against civilians. When asked about Jadue’s comments, the Israeli ambassador said 'they crossed all the lines' while acknowledging that many other Chilean Palestinians had directly condemned the Hamas attacks.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric, meanwhile, tweeted that he condemned Hamas’s 'brutal' attacks as well as the Israeli army’s indiscriminate violence against civilians in Gaza. He pledged to work for a two-state solution in which 'all people will have a dignified and safe life'. The day of the attack, Chile’s foreign minister tweeted that the use of force against civilians was never acceptable in armed conflicts, be it by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Israel, or anyone else. A statement from the foreign ministry that same day called for a 'just, full, and definitive peace' that includes an Israeli state and a Palestinian state 'within mutually agreed upon and internationally recognized secure borders'.

Reflecting on what Chile can contribute to the global conversation on the future of Israel-Palestine, a Chilean reader wrote a letter to newspaper El Mercúrio that was published on Tuesday. 'Our society has stood out for hosting Israeli and Palestinian migrants for more than a century', it said. 'It has been a beautiful heritage to share with them and also to have given them the chance for safe coexistence, as well as absolute peace and kindness' ".