Gabriel Boric's election win in Chile 'bad news for Israel': Report

The historic win of Gabriel Boric, a supporter of Palestine and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, in Chile's presidential election has sparked concerns in Tel Aviv.

An article published in London-based Arabic newspaper Rai al-Youm noted that the 35-year-old leftist’s election win was “a bad news for Israel”.

Boric, who is slated to assume office on March 22, defeated his far-right rival Antonio Kast earlier this month to become the South American country’s youngest leader ever.

The article in Rai al-Youm stressed that Boric’s election win “represented a model for generalizing ‘the global hatred against Israel’”.

It said a number of Israeli analysts and observers had “warned of the danger of Boric’s election and its repercussions” on the Israeli regime not only because of his support for Palestine but also due to his condemnation of the Tel Aviv regime for perpetuating genocide against Palestinians.

Citing Israeli journalist Amnon Lord’s article published in Hebrew-language daily Israel Hayom, it said the victory of Boric is considered “a bad news for Israeli because the radical left in South America …considers them [the Jewish] servants of the Israeli imperialism, and, with the passage of years, the countries of South America have become opponents of Israel, and in which slogans that say that Israel is pursuing a policy of racial segregation against Palestinians are promoted.”

The article further said that Tel Aviv is “disturbed” by latest political developments in Chile and is “attempting to exaggerate anti-Jewish conditions there” in order to pursue “early blackmail policy against the winning president”.

Advocacy group B’Tselem calls Israel apartheid regime for first time

An Israeli rights group says the entity is not a democracy but an “apartheid regime” that systematically oppresses Palestinians via military occupation and racist laws.

The article noted that the decision-making circles in Tel Aviv see the victory of Boric as “a golden opportunity” for the BDS, which works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.

It stated that Boric’s victory could be “generalized in other countries” and the wave could expand beyond Latin America to North America, home to Israel’s main supporters, the US and Canada.

According to the Israeli assessment, the newspaper said, the latest developments in Chile require “a quick response to stop this series that it considers hostile, amid the spread of similar phenomenon in the European continent for a long time.”

The anti-Israel and pro-Palestine narrative has been growing louder in the Israeli media and intelligentsia circles in recent years.

Earlier this year, B’Tselem, an Israeli advocacy group, referred to the regime in Tel Aviv as “apartheid regime” that systematically oppresses the Palestinians via military occupation and racist laws.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East al-Quds during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later annexed East al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion.

All settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in several resolutions.

The Gaza Strip has also been under an inhumane Israeli land, air and sea siege since 2007 and has witnessed three acts of Israeli military aggression since 2008.

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