MEXICO ALIGNED WITH ISRAEL

President López Obrador has tried to become the main reference of the “progressive” governments in Latin America, as he constantly advocates for Cuba and Venezuela before President Biden; he criticizes the right-wing governments or as he calls them “conservatives” and has maintained continuous disputes with several of them in the region (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia – when the coup against Evo Morales took place-Panama and Argentina); all for trying to help his allies and friends (Rafael Correa and Jorge Glas in Ecuador; Pedro Castillo in Perú; Evo Morales and Luis Arce in Bolivia) or for interfering in the internal affairs of these countries (criticism of the Foreign Affairs Minister of Panama or to the President of Argentina).

However, there is one issue on which López Obrador has not entirely agreed with his “progressive” counterparts in the region, and that is the relationship with Israel.

Iran has just sent drones and fired missiles at Israel, in retaliation for the destruction of its consulate in Damascus, Syria, by the Israeli armed forces, with the aim of assassinating members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in flagrant violation of international law.

The Mexican government strongly condemned the Iranian attack on Israel, and lukewarmly referred to the fact that originated the attack, that is, the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which has prompted numerous criticisms on social networks of the government of Lopez Obrador, for measuring with two sticks the violation of international law committed by Israel; while demanding that the international community strongly condemn the attack by the Ecuadorian police on the Mexican embassy in Quito.

On October 7, 2023, Israel suffered a violent incursion by the Hamas group (which the United States and the European Union consider to be a terrorist organization), which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israeli civilians, police, and soldiers; and the taking of about 250 hostages from Israel and many other countries.

Mexico condemned the Hamas attack but stated that it expected a peaceful resolution of the conflict, prompting a strong response from Israel's ambassador to Mexico, who expected unconditional support.

Subsequently, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu launched a brutal offensive against Hamas and the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip that, as of April 13, 2024, had killed 33,686 Palestinians (two thirds of them children and women) and wounded 76,214.

The Israeli offensive has destroyed homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, public buildings, and civilian infrastructure.

According to the Netanyahu government, its goal is to destroy the Hamas organization, but what has caused has been a humanitarian crisis that has brought 1.5 million people to the brink of starvation, who have taken refuge in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, in the small town of Rafah, which will also be attacked in the coming days by the Israel Defense Forces.

The death and destruction inflicted by Israel had led many countries in the international community to demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages by Hamas and the commencement of negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian State.

The South African government filed a complaint against Israel for possible violation of the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice (UN agency).

The Court ruled that Palestinians have the right to be protected from acts of genocide and that Israel must refrain from actions that may violate the Genocide Convention; and allow international assistance to the affected population.

Israel has not complied with the Court's orders, nor with a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

In this sense, several countries with “progressive” governments in Latin America have expressed their disagreement with Israel’s actions and have even gone further.

Colombia has just joined South Africa's complaint against Israel at the International Court of Justice and has pointed out that if Israel does not comply with the UN Security Council resolution on the ceasefire, it will break diplomatic relations with the Israeli government.

Colombia, Chile, and Honduras have already called their ambassadors to Israel for “consultations.”

Bolivia broke off diplomatic relations with Israel; Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua have supported the Palestinian cause for many years and condemn the Israeli offensive, as well as the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel; and in the case of President Lula of Brazil, he compared the death and destruction carried out by Israel in Gaza to the Holocaust that the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis in World War II.

The government of López Obrador, for its part, submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (this court investigates individuals who commit war crimes, while the UN International Court of Justice resolves disputes between states) to investigate the possible commission of war crimes by individuals of Israeli and/or Palestinian nationality in the current conflict in Gaza.

However, the Mexican government has not condemned the recent actions of the Israeli army, which murdered seven members of a non-governmental organization (World Central Kitchen) responsible for distributing food to the Palestinian population in Gaza; nor has it withdrawn its ambassador from Tel Aviv; nor has it expressed its unequivocal rejection of the Israeli army's actions against the civilian population in Gaza.

And this has an explanation. For three years now, the Mexican government has requested the extradition of the writer and former Mexican-Jewish diplomat Andrés Roemer to the State of Israel, where he went to take refuge in 2021, after the Mexico City Prosecutor's Office issued two arrest warrants against him for up to 60 cases of sexual abuse, which were presented by numerous victims, and which were verified between 2002 and 2020.

Mexico and Israel do not have an extradition treaty, so such requests depend on the goodwill of the Israeli government.

It was until October 2, 2023, that the Israeli authorities arrested Roemer.
But the attack of October 7 got through, and the whole process came to a halt. Until Roemer managed to have him placed under house arrest in January 2024.

Since then, Mexico's position on Israel's actions in Gaza has been completely silent, without condemning for example, the killing of more than 200 humanitarian workers.

Mexico's lukewarm position seems to have been reciprocated by Israel, since a few days ago an Israeli court approved Roemer's extradition to Mexico, although Roemer can still appeal that decision.

On the other hand, the former Director of the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General's Office, Tomás Zerón de Lucio, accused of torture against people who participated in the disappearance of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School, fled first to Canada, and then in 2022 took refuge in Israel, which has not responded in this case to the Mexican government's requests for his extradition.

Zerón was one of the Mexican officials who during the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) bought Pegasus software from the Israeli company NSO Group to spy on political opponents, journalists, businessmen, academics and even government officials.

This software continues to be used by the Secretary of National Defense and the National Intelligence Center of the Lopez Obrador government (although the president continues to deny it).

The Mexican government does not want to anger the Israeli government any more by accusing it of the excesses it is committing in Gaza, in order not to hinder the negotiations for the extradition of Roemer and eventually Zerón.

On the other hand, members of the Mexican Jewish community have had and still have an enormous influence on López Obrador, and they have certainly convinced him not to deepen Mexico's criticism of Israel over the situation in Gaza.

For example, José María Riobóo, a well-known entrepreneur in the construction sector, was the main person in charge of the construction of what at the time were known as the “second floors” of several main roads in Mexico City, when López Obrador was head of government (2000-2005). Since then he has been very close to López Obrador, so much so that Riobóo's wife, Yasmín Esquivel, was promoted by López Obrador to become Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
In 2022, López Obrador even pushed her to become president of the Supreme Court, but the attempt was frustrated when it became known that Minister Esquivel had plagiarized most of her thesis to obtain a law degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which almost cost her to resign from the Court, although she eventually remained in her post.

Another person close to the president who is part of the Jewish community is Julio Scherer (son of a famous journalist known for his “progressive” positions), who was his legal advisor during the first three years of López Obrador’s government, from where he carried out numerous illegal businesses under the protection of power, mainly extorting big businessmen, to whom he assured them that he would settle disputes over taxes or the application of various laws and regulations, in exchange for multimillion-dollar payments.

Finally, such was the scandal of these practices of the Legal Counsel, that López Obrador chose to ask him to resign in 2021. However, no investigation was opened into this individual's multiple violations of the law.

Now Scherer is an advisor to the presidential candidate of the ruling party, Claudia Sheinbaum, so it is feasible that if the presidential party (Morena) wins the elections again, Scherer will return to doing illegal business, protected by the new president.

And Claudia Sheinbaum herself is the daughter of two Jewish teachers who came from Bulgaria to Mexico after the Second World War.

Sheinbaum has not made any pronouncements about the conflict in Gaza, much less has criticized the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, so everything suggests that if she succeeds in the presidential elections of next June 2 (she has a 20 point advantage over her main competitor Xóchitl Galvez), she will maintain the line of cooperation and zero criticism towards Israel (maybe she will not reach as much as the current president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who has simply presented himself as a vassal of Netanyahu), which lead her away of positions of Latin American “progressive” governments on this issue and of the mexican foreign policy.