MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Boric refuses to welcome Israel's new ambassador in Chile

The issue did cause diplomatic tension between the two countries (Pic AFP)

Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font refused to welcome Israeli Ambassador Gil Artzyeli at La Moneda Palace. The diplomat was supposed to deliver his credentials to the head of state, who reportedly cited the killing of a Palestinian teenager in the Middle East for his decision.

A 17-year-old boy died Thursday during involving the Israeli Army in the Jenin region, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola was in charge of informing Artzyeli of President Boric's decision, despite which Chilean government sources denied it was “a grievance against Israel.”

The issue did cause diplomatic tension between the two countries.

Senator Carmen Gloria Aravena, president of the Chile-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group made up of 14 other senators from different parties, declared that what happened “is not only an affront to a country with which Chile has maintained a long and close friendship, but also puts bilateral relations with that nation at risk.”

Aravena, a former member of the right-wing Evópoli party, insisted she had “no memory of such a serious incident that Chile has had in terms of foreign policy in recent times” and asked the government and Boric to make a formal apology to Israel.

Chile's ambassador to Israel Jorge Carvajal received a call from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, it was reported.

Chile is the country with the largest Palestinian community outside the Arab world.