Bolivia Reinstating Ambassador to Israel In Order To Recall Him

La Paz, August 12 – Pressed for ways to showcase displeasure at Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip, the government of Bolivia will send its ambassador to Israel, recalled in 2012, back to Tel Aviv just to be able to make the dramatic gesture of recalling him again.

Hector Alito departed Tel Aviv in November 2012 during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense, which, like the recent Protective Edge, featured strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas rockets on Israeli cities. Eager to display solidarity with Palestinians, various Latin American countries on both occasions recalled their ambassadors to Israel. Unlike its neighbors, however, Bolivia did not subsequently reinstate the diplomat, and was therefore left unable to repeat the gesture when Protective Edge began claiming Palestinian lives.

Bolivian President Evo Morales therefore decided yesterday to send Alito back to Tel Aviv and wait to be recalled within a day or two. Alito is scheduled to arrive this evening, whereupon he will unpack, spend a day recovering from the trip, and resume his duties as ambassador on Thursday morning, by which time Morales or his Minister of Foreign Affairs will make the grandiose announcement that Alito has been recalled in protest of Israel’s “barbaric” “collective punishment” of “the Palestinian people.” Alito will again make the return trip, perhaps pausing to pose for cameras and hold a press conference before boarding the plane.

Critics of the Morales government, speaking from abroad for their safety, expressed doubt that the move would satisfy Bolivians’ demand that the government do something substantial to register its opposition to Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. South America has a sizable Palestinian community, and governments there depend heavily on their firm stance against Israel for legitimacy in domestic eyes and those of major trading partners such as Iran.

“It’s a bit late for Morales to be doing this – he should have done it right at the outset of the war, or not at all,” said Palestinian-Chilean critic Mustafa Embargo. “Frankly, it is embarrassing how the Latin American governments stumble over themselves to kiss up to the anti-Israel elements in their societies.”

It remains unclear how Alito will succeed in leaving Israel as planned, as the air traffic control personnel in Tel Aviv will be on strike, as per local custom.