Colombia and Israel Scrap Visa Requirements as Bogota's New Government Recognizes Golan Annexation

Starting September 1, Israeli and Colombian citizens will no longer need visas to enter each other's countries, according to an announcement from Israel's foreign ministry. The deal followed talks between Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar.

The waiver is the latest in a rapid sequence of policy reversals under Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on August 7. In the two weeks since, his government has moved to restore full diplomatic relations with Israel, announced plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem, and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

That last step puts Colombia alongside the United States as one of only two governments to formally endorse Israel's annexation of the territory. Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and extended its domestic law over the area in 1981. The UN Security Council responded with Resolution 497.

The Security Council resolution declared Israel's move on the Golan Heights "null and void and without international legal effect."

The realignment reverses the foreign policy of de la Espriella's predecessor, Gustavo Petro, who severed diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2024. Petro described Israel's campaign in Gaza as a "genocide" and a "crime against humanity," and his government backed the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu separately faces an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the war in Gaza.

The groundwork for reversal was laid before de la Espriella took office. In July, Sa'ar and Bula Escobar met in Washington and agreed on a roadmap to restore diplomatic and economic ties, exchange ambassadors, and expand cooperation between the two governments.

Colombia has paired its shift on Israel with a parallel reversal on Western Sahara, recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the territory and abandoning Petro's support for Sahrawi self-determination, a position that aligns Bogota with a shared US and Israeli foreign policy priority.

Taken together, the visa waiver, the Jerusalem embassy plan, and the Golan Heights recognition amount to a sweeping realignment carried out in under two weeks. It repositions Colombia as one of Israel's closest political partners in Latin America, opening the country more widely to Israeli visitors, including serving soldiers, at a moment when Israeli travelers face growing scrutiny abroad over the conduct of the Gaza war and the expansion of settlements across the occupied West Bank.