Expelled Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Cohen bid farewell to Venezuela unhappy about the nature of his departure, but insisting he bore the country "neither hate nor rancor." He said he accepted the decision by the Foreign Ministry that he had to leave, even though it made his wife, his son and himself sad. Cohen had been given 72 hours to go and they were up on Friday. He made his goodbye at a meeting Thursday evening at the Hebrew Club which had been organized by the Confederation of Israelite Associations in Venezuela (CAIV).
In remarks made at the meeting, Cohen referred to the conflict in Gaza, saying that Israel wanted peace. But, he pointedly added, Israel also had the right to defend itself against constant attacks and the launching of missiles against the south of the country. The meeting was attended by, among others, recently elected opposition Metropolitan Mayor Antonio Ledezma, and Miguel Henrique Otero, director of the conservative newspaper, El Nacional, and a target of government allegations that he's involved in "anti-democratic" activities.
President Hugo Chávez ordered that Cohen be expelled in a high-profile protest against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Chávez has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government in harsh terms, claiming they are responsible for causing hundreds of deaths.
El Nacional on Friday quoted Alexander Rosemberg, a senior official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, as having said that the question of whether a new ambassador to Venezuela would be appointed depended on whether Caracas wanted to maintain diplomatic relations. Six other embassy officials were also expelled, and as a result, the embassy was now closed, Rosemberg said, leaving open the question as to whether this amounted to a "rupture in the links" between the two countries.
Protesters gathered outside the embassy building Thursday, throwing shoes, stones and bottles at police officers outside. No arrests were reported. Some of the demonstrators carried poster portraits of Hassan Nasrala, head of the militant Islamist group, Hezbollah, who has called on Arab countries to follow Chávez example by expelling Israeli envoys. Others held carried placards proclaiming membership of the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) and Chávez' ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, while others waved Palestinian flags.
The Palestinian flag was also flown outside the National Assembly, which is all but entirely dominated by the PSUV and its allies, in what legislators said was a symbol of their "militant solidarity" with the "brother people" of Palestine. Meanwhile, the Lebanese town of Al Bira named a street after Chávez, due to the decision to expel the Israeli ambassador. The town, located in north Lebanon -- on the border with anti-American, anti-Israel aligned Syria -- took this step "in assessing the historic initiative of Venezuelan President to have expelled the Israeli ambassador of his country, in response to Israeli massacres against the Palestinian people in Gaza," said the small municipality in a press release.
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