Image by Instagram

(JTA) — A photo published by a Colombian pop star posing beside an Israeli border police officer has led to a passionate debate among his nearly 30 million followers on social media.

Singer Maluma, who performed in Tel Aviv on Oct. 12, shared on his Instagram account the picture with the smiling female Israeli border police officer above the caption “New security” in both English and Spanish, reported the Enlace Judio news website on Sunday.

New security / nueva seguridad ![?][2]

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A post shared by MALUMA (@maluma) on Oct 14, 2017 at 8:57am PDT

The photo has garnered nearly 1.3 million likes and 28,500 comments mostly debating Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians. While several followers supported the photo, others wrote messages such as “You lost all your Palestinian fanatics and I am the first of them,” “Did you ask how many Palestinians she killed before posing for a photo with her?” and “Posing with a member of Israel’s killer army.”

The singer also posted a second picture with Jerusalem in the background, drawing over 1.2 million likes and over 17,200 comments. In addition to Maluma’s nearly 30 million followers on Instagram, he has another 23 million on Facebook and 4.7 million on Twitter.

On Thursday, the Palestinian mission to Colombia tweeted a quote from late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. The tweet was quickly removed and no explanation or apology was offered.

Colombia is home to some 3,500 Jews in a population of about 49 million people.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount