Colombia will inaugurate its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 14, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Thursday, a move that reverses two years of rupture between the countries and puts Bogota among a small group of governments with a mission in the city.
Most countries keep their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv because the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Ynet News reported on Sept. 30 that Colombia would become the 10th country with an embassy in the city.
Sa’ar made the announcement at a conference in Jerusalem, according to Al Jazeera. “Next Wednesday, we are going to inaugurate the Colombian embassy,” he said. He also said Jerusalem “was always the capital of one nation.”
An official at Colombia’s Foreign Ministry told AFP that Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar would travel to Jerusalem on Sunday ahead of the opening. Al Jazeera’s report included no direct public statement from the Colombian government about the embassy.
The announcement follows a sharp change in Colombian foreign policy. Then-president Gustavo Petro announced in May 2024 that Colombia would cut diplomatic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza, and Israel recalled its ambassador that June, the Jerusalem Post reported.
President Abelardo de la Espriella won the June 2026 election and was sworn in in August. On July 14, Sa’ar and Bula, then the incoming foreign minister, met in Washington and agreed to “fully restore diplomatic and economic relations,” according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry as cited by the Jerusalem Post. The steps included exchanging ambassadors and dropping visa requirements.
Colombia already operated a trade and innovation office in Jerusalem, opened under former president Ivan Duque, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The move is contested at home. Protesters rallied in Bogota on Wednesday against the government’s Israel policy, including the planned embassy. Nicolas Isaza, a protester, told Al Jazeera that the government “is no longer opposing” Israeli actions in Palestine, a characterization Colombia’s government has not publicly addressed in the reports reviewed.
Sa’ar also said the Democratic Republic of the Congo would open its Jerusalem embassy “very soon.” He suggested Brazil might follow, citing the first-round result in which Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro finished first in the presidential vote, according to Al Jazeera. Brazil’s runoff is still to come; Canada News Media reported on the first-round result on Oct. 8. No Brazilian candidate has announced such a plan in the reports reviewed.
For Canadians, the decision is a reminder of where Ottawa has stood. A Global Affairs Canada briefing note dated Dec. 6, 2019, said the status of Jerusalem “can be resolved only as part of a general settlement” and that Canada would not move its embassy from Tel Aviv. Canada News Media did not find a more recent statement from Ottawa on the Colombian move, and Global Affairs Canada had not commented in the reports reviewed.
Canadians travelling to Israel or the region should check the current advisory at travel.gc.ca.
The embassy is due to open Oct. 14. The Palestinian position and any response from Colombia’s government after the opening are the developments to watch. The story is developing, and the date rests on Sa’ar’s public statement as relayed by Al Jazeera and AFP.
Via Al Jazeera, AFP, Ynet News and the Jerusalem Post.
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