Chile Accuses Israel’s Ambassador of Meddling Amid Row Over Bachelet Post
CHILE · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country Chile, governed by conservative President José Antonio Kast since 11 March, recognised the State of Palestine in 2011.
- —Why it matters Chile’s Palestinian community, about 500,000 people by its supporters’ count, is often called the largest outside the Arab world.
- —What happened On Monday 28 September the Foreign Ministry accused Israel’s ambassador, Peleg Lewi, of “interference” in a formal protest note.
- —What media point to Lewi’s X post showing ex-President Bachelet with Chávez, Maduro and the Castros: “What is born of sin ends in failure.”
- —What it means for you No visa, travel or trade rules change, and both countries keep their ambassadors in place.
- —Still open Israel’s response is still unclear, and the ministry has not said which statements it meant.
Chile’s Foreign Ministry handed Israel’s ambassador, Peleg Lewi, a formal protest note on Monday 28 September. It said his “recent public statements” amounted to “interference in the internal affairs of the country”.
The ministry did not say which statements it meant, the right-leaning Ex-Ante noted. T13, BioBioChile and the left-leaning El Desconcierto tied the note to Lewi’s recent posts about former President Michelle Bachelet.
What the ambassador posted
Last week Lewi posted photos of Bachelet beside Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro and Cuba’s Fidel and Raúl Castro on X. His caption read: “What is born of sin ends in failure,” T13 and ADN Radio reported.
The post referred to Bachelet’s bid to become secretary-general of the United Nations, which she abandoned on Saturday 19 September. Bachelet was Chile’s president twice, from 2006 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018.
She later served as the UN’s human rights chief from 2018 to 2022, DW reported. Brazil and Mexico had co-sponsored her candidacy, but Kast’s government withdrew Chile’s support on 24 March, calling it “unviable”.
El Desconcierto reported that Lewi deleted his first post after criticism. He then published the same image again in reply to Sebastián Gray, a Catholic University academic who had demanded a retraction.
A public row with a former lawmaker
On Friday 25 September Carmen Hertz, a former Communist Party deputy, called the post “improper and shameful” for an ambassador. She asked Lewi whether he knew the Vienna Convention, the treaty that sets the rules for diplomats.
Lewi replied that he knew it well and that this was “an international matter”. “Enough victimisation and gagging,” he wrote, according to BioBioChile and El Mostrador.
The exchange went on, and Lewi later wrote: “You will not silence me!” Hertz answered that “you are not a pundit, but an ambassador”, both outlets reported.
Left-wing deputy Gonzalo Winter said the government “has lacked character when it comes to setting limits for its allies”. “A foreign ambassador cannot come to Chile to insult our authorities,” the Broad Front lawmaker wrote on X, ADN Radio reported.
What the protest note says
The ministry’s statement ran to a single sentence and quoted no post. It described the note as a response to “recent public statements that represent interference in the internal affairs of the country”.
A protest note is a formal written complaint handed to a foreign envoy. It is a milder step than expulsion, which Article 9 of the Vienna Convention allows without any stated reason.
Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna confirmed the step to deputies that afternoon, Radio Agricultura reported. “Today another protest note has been sent to the ambassador of Israel for his interference in internal affairs,” he said.
He added that Lewi had already received an earlier protest note and verbal reprimands. In May the ministry summoned Lewi over the “degrading treatment” of detainees from a Gaza-bound flotilla that carried Chileans, Cooperativa reported.
Why the timing mattered
The note came hours before Pérez Mackenna faced the first interpellation of a Chilean foreign minister, a formal public questioning by deputies. He kept his post, as set out in Chile Foreign Minister Survives Interpellation as Deputies Give Kast 30 Days on US Pact.
Critics had accused the minister of passivity towards the ambassador. The economist and former minister Roberto Pizarro Hofer argued in Le Monde diplomatique that he should resign, El Ciudadano reported.
Criticism from left and right
Complaints about Lewi have not come only from the left. In August he criticised a Gaza photo exhibition in Viña del Mar for using public money, which the city denied.
Omar Sabat, a deputy for the conservative UDI party, chairs the Chamber’s Chilean-Palestinian friendship group. “Nobody can come and dictate what has to be done inside our country,” he said then, G5noticias reported.
Senator Sergio Gahona also urged the ministry at the time to enforce diplomats’ duty of non-interference, BioBioChile reported. Cooperativa noted that Lewi had mocked UDI senator Iván Moreira, a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Diego Khamis, former executive director of the Palestinian Community of Chile, counts Diego Schalper of centre-right National Renewal among Lewi’s targets. In a BioBioChile column on Saturday 26 September, he asked: “How much longer, foreign minister?”
Khamis argued that “the ambassador’s immunity cannot become the defencelessness of Chileans”. Khamis says Lewi publicly called him an admirer of Hezbollah, a claim he rejects, El Ciudadano reported.
Chile’s Palestinian and Jewish communities
Chile’s Palestinian community is often described as the largest outside the Arab world, at about 500,000 people. Backers of a bill passed on Wednesday 23 September cite that figure, BioBioChile reported.
The bill declares 7 January a Day of Chilean-Palestinian Friendship and Solidarity, marking Chile’s recognition of the State of Palestine in 2011. Deputies approved it with only nine votes against, with support from left and right.
The government has also faced this dispute in reverse, with its own ambassador to Israel, Gabriel Zaliasnik. In a US podcast interview criticised in late August, he put Chile’s Palestinians at “20,000 to 25,000 people”, T13 reported.
Zaliasnik, a former president of the Jewish Community of Chile, apologised for using “offensive” terms. Pérez Mackenna said the interview “does not represent the government’s opinion” and sent him a written reproach.
An editorial in the centre-right La Tercera argued that the most complex postings should go to career diplomats. “Israel is one of those cases,” the newspaper wrote.
What it means for residents and visitors
The note changes nothing for residents, travellers or businesses. Visas, travel and trade between Chile and Israel continue as before.
The episode shows how the Middle East conflict runs through Chilean domestic politics. If the note concerns the Bachelet post, as most Chilean media assume, a conservative government has defended a Socialist former president.
What comes next
It is not known how Israel will respond to the note, or whether Israel’s ambassador will change his public style. Nor has the ministry said whether it meant the Bachelet post or earlier remarks.
Khamis argued that Lewi’s repeated conduct would justify declaring him persona non grata, meaning no longer welcome. At a minimum, he wants the ministry to summon Lewi formally and demand a public correction.
The note does not mean a break with Israel. Both countries keep their ambassadors in place, and a protest note records displeasure without expelling anyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Peleg Lewi?
He is Israel’s ambassador to Chile. He is known for an unusually active public profile on X, including clashes with Chilean politicians of both left and right.
What is a diplomatic protest note?
It is a formal written complaint that a government hands to a foreign envoy. It records official displeasure but does not expel the diplomat or cut relations.
Why does the Middle East matter so much in Chile?
Chile’s Palestinian community is often described as the largest outside the Arab world, at about 500,000 people by its backers’ count. Chile recognised the State of Palestine in 2011.
Does the dispute affect travel to Chile or Israel?
No. No visa, travel or trade rule has changed, and both countries keep their ambassadors in place.
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