*Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Remarks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Reception Celebrating the Inauguration of the Embassy of Colombia in Jerusalem*

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Wednesday, 14 October 2026):

“Thank you to the Ambassador of Israel to Colombia, and the Ambassador of Colombia to Israel. And dear ambassadors, dear friends, in so many countries, in so many continents.

I'm going to tell you something that will absolutely shock you. I've been prime minister for a while, you know. And in 2017, I discovered an amazing fact. No sitting prime minister of Israel in almost 70 years of our history ever went south of Texas. That's as far south as we got. And I said, well, that's impossible. And I checked. It was true. No sitting prime minister of Israel went south of the Rio Grande.

So I decided we have to change that. It's all of Latin America. It's a huge chunk of humanity, a huge and important part of the world. And I thought, okay, I'll go.

And the first place we went to, Sara and I, three places: Colombia, Argentina and Mexico. It was a great visit, very friendly in every one of these countries. And by the way, a year later, I think we went to a small country called Brazil, to the inauguration of President Bolsonaro. Who knows? We may do it again.

And not accidentally, a year later, 2017, I think, or 18, my wife, Sara, led a delegation of the Foreign Ministry, not to an earthquake, which we just did again in Colombia, but to a volcanic eruption in Guatemala. And she led a mission of mercy and assistance to the children of Guatemala, and the creation of a neighborhood called New Jerusalem. Douze points. Exactly.

So there are these deep connections that went awry, they were completely derailed because in Argentina, in Mexico, in Brazil, and I regret to say in Colombia, there was a new pharaoh, pharaohs, who did not know Joseph or Gideon or Benjamin, and it all went down to the global woke alliance. It just went down and down and down.

And now I have to tell you that something remarkable is happening in Latin America. It's all coming back. It's all coming back. The great friendship, the great sympathy, the deep sympathy between our peoples. A real friendship. It's based on, yes, interests. I'll talk about that in a minute. But it comes from the heart. It comes from values. And I have to say that President Abelardo de la Espriella said it exactly, and you said it, Omar, exactly. It's a common heritage. A Judeo-Christian heritage that started in this city, this city. The city of the prophets, the king of Israel, the city of Christianity. This is where it all began. and it forms a very strong bond between our peoples. Not only the past, but seizing the future.

We want to seize the future together with security, with agriculture, with water, with AI, with everything, with everything. We want to make it grow, not only the crops, the people, the children. Give hope. This is what we're about.

We're about life and hope, and we face, exactly as was said here, a death cult that has gripped parts of the globe. A battle of civilization against barbarism. We stand for civilization. We stand for life. We stand for hope. And we're willing to fight the barbarians.

And we appreciate those who stand with us. And Colombia stands with us. Great courage, great courage and foresight of your president. Please send him my warmest regards. We spoke on the phone. But yes, I'd love to visit with Sara, Colombia again, Bogota. You have a beautiful country, beautiful people, and you deserve the future that you now will get.

You have no better friend than Israel. We believe that we have no better friend than Colombia.

And some great friends who are here as well. I appreciate the support from countries in Africa, countries in Latin America, countries elsewhere. Our friend, the United States of America, President Trump did a great thing here.

So to have the 10th Embassy, the 10th Embassy, the minyan, is a great thing. That's a great development.