[R-G] Venezuela expels Israel envoy over Gaza attacks

[Anthony Fenton]

Venezuela expels Israel envoy over Gaza attacks
Tue Jan 6, 2009 4:40pm EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSN06444577

CARACAS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela expelled the ambassador to Israel  
on Tuesday in protest over the offensive in Gaza only hours after  
leftist President Hugo Chavez called the attacks a Palestinian  
"holocaust."

The socialist Chavez, a harsh critic of Israel and the United States,  
in recent years has frequently withdrawn Venezuela's diplomatic envoys  
amid bilateral disputes and last year kicked out the U.S. ambassador  
over a conflict involving allied Bolivia.

The OPEC nation's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israel's  
campaign constituted "flagrant violations of International Law" and  
the use of "state terrorism."

"For the reasons mentioned above, the government of Venezuela has  
decided to expel the Ambassador of Israel and part of the personnel of  
the Embassy of Israel," the statement said.

The Israeli embassy did not respond to phone calls requesting comment.

Chavez in 2006 threatened to break ties with Israel over its military  
campaign in Lebanon in a war of words that led both nations to  
withdraw their envoys.

On Monday he accused Washington of poisoning the late Palestinian  
leader Yasser Arafat to destabilize the Middle East and justify U.S.- 
backed Israeli incursions into Arab countries.

Israel is under international pressure to reach a ceasefire with Hamas  
militants and halt an offensive that has killed nearly 600  
Palestinians, including more than 40 in a U.N. school sheltering  
civilians.

"The Holocaust, that is what is happening right now in Gaza," Chavez  
said in televised comments earlier on Tuesday.

"The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the  
International Criminal Court together with the President of the United  
States."

The United States, which Chavez describes as a decadent empire, firmly  
backs Israel -- its principal ally in the region.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra Maler)