Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) called on the Israeli Embassy to provide clarification regarding the attack on diplomats that occurred yesterday in the West Bank.
The Ministry noted that a group of diplomats from 32 countries was on a field visit in Jenin, West Bank—including the head and alternate representative of Mexico’s Representative Office in Palestine, Pedro Blanco Pérez and Julio César Escobedo Flores, respectively—when Israeli soldiers fired shots to intimidate the delegation.
Through a message on social media, the SRE reported that Mexican Minister of Foreign Relations Juan Ramón de la Fuente personally contacted Ambassador Blanco to ensure that both diplomats—who were unharmed—were in good health and to convey the Ministry’s full support.
The SRE statement explained that the Israeli army justified the action by claiming that the diplomatic delegation had entered an “unauthorized area”. However, there is no record of such an occurrence, nor did any official approach the delegation to verbally and in timely fashion warn them of this.
“What occurred violates Article 29 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which establishes the inviolability of diplomatic representatives. All States that are party to the Convention—including Israel—are obligated to respect it,” the Ministry emphasized.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo expressed regret and condemned the incident during her morning press conference on Thursday.
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
