Israel has just been plunged into an energy crisis!

Right, so Israel have an energy crisis on their hands and frankly if you’re going to sanction a warmongering nation that will not listen to reason, we know sanctions are the best way to do that – cripple a nation economically to force their hand. It worked in South Africa during the days of apartheid there, it should work in these days of apartheid in Israel too and the delicious irony here is that the effect of this latest sanction, coming courtesy of Colombia of all places, will do to Netanyahu and do to Israel, exactly what they’ve been doing to Gaza for decades.
Right, so that was a clip I often like to remind people of, that clip of Keir Starmer saying Israel does have the right to turn off water and turn off power to Gaza, war crimes as they are, Starmer still to this day has not apologised for saying all of that and likely never will, he never apologises for anything, he’s simply denied he ever said what he said ever since despite it clearly being there on video. Well cutting off power, is exactly what Colombia have done to Israel and you might be wondering how a nation in South America can possibly do that to a country nowhere near it geographically in the Middle East, but Colombia is the biggest coal exporter to Israel going, Israel’s power stations for the most part are still coal driven, so it’s going to cause absolute chaos and you probably don’t know a damn thing about it because yet again, our mainstream media here in the UK appear to be completely ignoring this story as well. Thank God for alternative media eh? Where would you be without us! Speaking of, here’s an excerpt from Skwawkbox’s coverage, who you can always rely on top pick such stories up:
‘Colombian president Gustavo Petro has signed a decree ending the country’s exports of coal to Israel because of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Before the decree, Colombia was Israel’s biggest fossil fuel supplier.
Petro, who is pushing through improvements in pensions, healthcare access, labour laws and education for ordinary Colombians despite resistance and an attempted ‘soft coup’ by right-wing, pro-US media and opposition groups, said of the decree that it was time to end the supply of Colombian coal which Israel was using,
to make bombs to kill Palestinian children.’
Now all of this comes following an announcement by Colombia back in June where they said they were going to suspend coal exports to Israel until the genocide in Gaza ends and now a decree making good on that promise has now been signed. Colombia is Israel’s biggest supplier of coal, over a $1bn worth a year is what this is worth to Colombia’s economy according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, though the Times of Israel claim a figure half that, though you can imagine the Times is running damage limitation over this course of events. I’ll come back to that point of the impact on Colombia’s economy from this move in a moment, because it’s interesting. But regardless of which figure you use, this is going to cause Israel significant problems because of their reliance on fossil fuels to run their power stations. Most of this comes from natural gas it should be said, which has allowed Israel to reduce it’s coal consumption, gas platforms in the Mediterranean sea, there is plenty of natural gas there, but many of these have had to be shut down, for fear of them being made targets by all the nations currently attacking them, prompting some supply issues. Israel’s response at that time, early on in the conflict following the events of October 7th, was to increase imports of more diesel and more coal, as well as allow more oil from the state oil company to be offloaded at the southern port of Eilat, as long as it was going to be for Israeli use. Well, since then of course, the Houthis in Yemen have blockaded so much shipping bound for Eilat, at the north of the Red Sea as that is, that the port has now declared bankruptcy, 85% reduction in shipping arriving there is what the Houthis have managed to achieve, all without having a navy of their own, that will have interrupted shipping supplies of diesel and coal as well and now half of their coal imports have stopped, since that is the proportion of coal that comes from Colombia. Israel have an energy crisis on their hands now, such has been their over-reliance on imports of fossil fuels, their investment in renewables still only amounts to around 10% of their energy mix and they are paying a price for that now.
But as much as I can point out the reliance on coal in Israel for power, that is not the reason cited by Colombian President Gustavo Petro as this excerpt from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency states:
‘Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Sunday that his country is "officially" halting coal exports to Israel, citing the use of Colombian coal in weapons used against Palestinians in Gaza.
"Colombian coal is used to make bombs to kill Palestinian children," Petro said on X, justifying the decision in response to Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza.
The decree, signed by President Petro along with the ministers of foreign affairs, finance, mines, and trade, will come into effect five days after its publication in the official gazette.
Colombia, which exports 5% of its total coal production to Israel, has also suspended diplomatic relations with the country, as announced in May, due to Israel's onslaught in Gaza.’
Diplomatic ties are cut too, Petro having stated that he could not maintain relations with Netanyahu’s genocidal government and don’t many of us wish our leaders would come to the same conclusion?
Of course this action that Colombia has taken has not come without repercussions for themselves, doing the right thing comes as a cost to them too and obviously Petro’s opponents will bleat about such matters, the knock on effect to their economy, their defence, their international relations, but when we’re talking about genocide here, frankly any such excuses really ought to be condemned as putting self interest before lives being lost, which simply tells me they very much deserve to be in opposition.
On the defence front, the Daily Sabah – another Turkish news outlet, spells it out:
‘Colombia has long depended on Israel for military hardware that includes assault rifles and intelligence equipment. The South American nation has also bought more than 30 fighter jets from Israel over the past three decades and depends on Israeli companies for their maintenance.
New military purchases have been halted, however, as relations between both countries deteriorate. Critics of Petro have said that the president’s decision to cut ties with Israel jeopardizes Colombia’s security capabilities as its military fights drug cartels and rebel groups in rural parts of the country.’
Ah the critics. There never seems to be a shortage of nations wanting to sell arms does there? I’m sure that is one supplier that can easily be replaced. The bigger argument being put forward right now is over that economic loss as a result of ending coal exports to Israel until they stop their genocide, the sanction that Colombia has decided to inflict on Israel, that might well see the lights go out on them for a change, a taste of what they mete out in Gaza. Of all the people complaining about this right now, you can imagine the mining industry itself would be amongst them and indeed they are wailing about a breaking of international commitments with regards to coal exports and will put off investors. I said I was coming back to this point a bit earlier. The truth of the matter is, and we all know this, we need to be getting away from using fossil fuels anyway, and whilst Colombia is a major exporter of coal, the sixth largest seafaring coal exporter in the world, with hydrocarbons like coal making up more than half of Colombia’s export income, it is finite and unsustainable for the planet.
Last December, Colombia became the first major nation to join the fossil fuel non-proliferation coalition and has also announced a commitment to energy transition and carbon neutrality by 2050, so it’s oil and coal reserves at some point are either intended to run out or are simply going to be left in the ground as Colombia follows another course of action, in their case they plan to invest heavily in the hydrogen power market, notably usage of white hydrogen, which, much like coal and oil occurs naturally when the geology is just right and that happens to be the case in Colombia. So perhaps the mining companies simply need to do like all of us do and move with the times and be part of embracing new opportunities for low carbon energy, which hydrogen certainly represents.
Speaking of the mining companies and coming back to them again as well as pointing the finger at politicians still bemoaning the impact such action might have on their own prosperity, it is interesting how the mining companies are bemoaning the sanction and the ban of coal exports to Israel, but trade unions, the bodies representing the workers, have played a much more progressive role as this excerpt from a Jacobin article on what is happening in Colombia spells out, especially the part ordinary workers and trade unionists had to play here:
‘Only a few weeks into the genocide, the largest Colombian mine workers’ union, Sintracarbón, responded to a call for solidarity from the Palestinian trade union movement, issuing a statement demanding the halting of Colombian coal exports to Israel. In raising this demand, the miners also highlighted Israel’s nefarious role in training paramilitaries and mercenaries responsible for widespread atrocities in Colombia, and rallied workers globally to stop the production of metals, minerals and fuels that are used in these wars . . . the planet is on the verge of a new world war and it is the workers who can and have the obligation to stop this threat against the existence of the human race.’
People taken action through their support organisations, the trade unions and of a President in tune with them and not vested interests and donors in action. It’s unheard of here isn’t it? Shows what is possible though. Solidarity to President Petro and all those who have worked to bring this ban about, may it give Netanyahu some food for thought as he hopefully ends up sitting in the dark!
Where Colombia has got the right side, Keir Starmer is nothing more than an appeaser, so much so he;’s been compared to British history’s greatest appeaser Neville Chamberlain recently which I thought I’d take a look into and upon which you can get all the details in this video recommendation here and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.