Colombia's decision to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights has triggered condemnation across the Middle East, with Arab governments accusing Bogota of legitimising Israel's decades-long occupation and defying international law.
The move makes Colombia only the second UN member state, after the United States, to recognise Israel's claim to Syrian territory it seized by force in 1967 and later unilaterally annexed in a move rejected by the international community.
Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt condemned the recognition on Tuesday, stressing that a declaration by Bogota cannot alter the Golan Heights' status as occupied Syrian territory.
The decision represents a dramatic reversal in Colombian foreign policy just days after President Abelardo de la Espriella took office, and is among the clearest signs yet of his government's rapid rapprochement with Israel.
His predecessor, Gustavo Petro, severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2024 over its war on Gaza and backed South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
De la Espriella has instead moved swiftly to rebuild relations with Israel, with the Golan recognition placing Colombia alongside Washington and against the longstanding international consensus on the occupied territory.
Colombia's foreign ministry sought to justify the decision by citing instability in the Middle East and the Golan's alleged strategic importance to Israel's "security", adding that Israel had a "right to protect itself" from supposed external threats.
But Israel's security claims do not alter the territory's status under international law.
Israel captured most of the Syrian Golan Heights during the 1967 war and imposed its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the territory in 1981. The UN Security Council responded unanimously with Resolution 497, declaring Israel's move "null and void and without international legal effect".
Damascus condemned Colombia's decision "in the strongest terms", highlighting that it was a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law.
Syria's foreign ministry stressed that the Golan remained "occupied Syrian territory and an inseparable part" of the country, saying Bogota's recognition could neither legitimise Israel's occupation nor change the territory's legal status.
Saudi Arabia also called on Colombia to reverse the decision, warning that it entrenched "the logic of imposing a fait accompli" and undermined efforts towards regional peace.
Riyadh said Israel's attempts to change the legal status of occupied Syrian territory created no rights and conferred no legitimacy on its control.
Qatar accused the move of helping Israel disregard UN resolutions governing the occupied Golan, stressing that recognition by individual governments could not change the fact that the territory remained occupied Arab land.
Doha also warned that unilateral recognition of Israeli sovereignty would pose a "major obstacle" to peace and reiterated its demand for Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab territories.
Jordan described the Golan as an inseparable part of Syrian territory and coupled its condemnation with criticism of Israel's continuing attacks and incursions inside Syria.
Egypt similarly rejected Colombia's decision as contrary to international law and an infringement on Syria's established territorial rights.
For decades, virtually the entire international community refused to recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan.
That consensus was first breached in 2019 when US President Donald Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the territory, overturning decades of American policy and making Washington the only country to recognise Israel's claim.