Reports of the attack on a synagogue on 1st February in Caracas, Venezuela give one a sense of déjà vu. Whenever a radical, anti-American regime comes to the fore in South or Central America, you can be sure that it is going to be accused of ‘anti-Semitism’.
This is an old theme with a long pedigree. Our old friend Abe Foxman of the ironically named Anti Defamation League wrote last year of the ‘The rising wave of anti-Semitism in Venezuela is part and parcel of this effort by Chávez’s increasingly repressive regime.’
This was followed up by Wall Street Journal’s “Americas” columnist, Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s “The New Tehran-Caracas Axis,” and an article in the neoconservative Weekly Standard by Aaron Mannes that focused on a distorted version of Chavez’ Christmas Eve broadcast as evidence of his anti-Semitism.
An article on a US Anti-War site ‘US Neocons Accuse Chavez of Anti-Semitism’ by Jim Lobe described exactly what is happening.
The attribution of anti-Semitism to Chavez’s 2007 Xmas broadcast
was explicitly rejected by Fred Pressner, president of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela (CAIV), as well as two major U.S. Jewish groups.
You have interfered in the political status, in the security, and in the well-being of our community,”
according to a draft letter from the CIAV to the Wiesenthal Center obtained by The Forward, the largest-circulation Jewish newspaper in the United States.
You have acted on your own, without consulting us, on issues that you don’t know or understand. We believe the president was not talking about Jews and that the Jewish world must learn to work together
according to the draft letter, which noted that the latest protest was the third time that the Wiesenthal Center had publicly criticized Chavez without first consulting the local community.
The two U.S. groups – the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress, both of which have Latin America divisions – echoed Pressner’s contention that Chavez’ comments, when considered in their full context, including sentences that both preceded and followed the (already abridged) sentence quoted by O’Grady and Mannes, were not aimed at Jews.
The two U.S. groups – the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress, both of which have Latin America divisions – echoed Pressner’s contention that Chavez’ comments, when considered in their full context, including sentences that both preceded and followed the (already abridged) sentence quoted by O’Grady and Mannes, were not aimed at Jews.
This campaign is really a rerun of what happened in the 1980’s when Nicaragua, which under the Sandanistas had got rid of their fascist dictator Somoza. Nicaragua too was accused of ‘anti-Semitism’. According to Rabbi Rosenthall of the ADL Latin American Affairs Department:
‘Nicaragua’s Left Wing Sandinista Government has forced the country entire Jewish community into exile, confiscated Jewish owned property and taken over the synagogue in the capital, Managua.’
and naturally ‘according to Rabbi Rosenthal’s article, Nicaraguan Jews blame the longstanding close ties between the Sandinistas and the PLO.’ Jewish Chronicle 25.5.83.
Billionaire Edgar Bronfman of the World Jewish Congress rammed home the message:
‘If Nicaragua wants to receive a more sympathetic hearing from world Jewry, she must make a gesture that would indicate that she has begun to mitigate her hostility towards Israel. Jewish Chronicle 5. 10. 1984.’
And that is Venezuela’s real crime. It has broken off diplomatic relations with Israel.
In South America there was an anti-Semitic regime, Argentina, under the military junta of 1976-83, which murdered 30,000 people including 3,000 Jews. (Jews account for less than 1% of the Argentinian population). The Venezuela state has murdered no Jews so you would think that the ADL and its neo-conservative friends would really have gone to town on Argentina.
Unfortunately this isn’t the case because you are forgetting that Argentina then was a close and dear friend of Israel, with a $1 billion arms contract to prove it.
Jacob Timmerman, a left Zionist editor La Opinion, a liberal newspaper, was kidnapped and severely tortured by the Argentinian secret police. It was only because he was famous that his life was saved. He went to Israel, recognised that the politics there were of a piece with where he had left, and returned home after the Junta had fallen.
The then Editor of the Jewish Chronicle Geoffrey Paul was surprised when he went to Argentina:
But how are we to explain the Jewish attacks on Timmerman in the United States? Some of them, undoubtedly have been inspired from conservative circles in the Jewish community, which have been convince by a campaign of rumour and innuendo that Timmerman was in league with Left-wing terrorist groups opposed to the Argentine military and that he ‘asked for what he got.
So, let’s be clear. The same ADL and neo-conservatives who see a wave of anti-Semitism in Venezuela because of a distortion of a speech by Hugo Chavez actually supported the persecution of Argentine Jews who were anti-fascist.
The answer to this puzzle lies of course in Zionist priorities. It’s not about saving Jews but about ‘saving’ the Jewish people from ‘assimilation’. Hadashot, an Israeli newspaper of 28 Sept. 1990 described what really happened in an article ‘Israel Denied Shelter to Left-wing Argentine Jews During Junta Rule’
The Israeli government could have saved hundreds of Argentine Jews, who were murdered or kidnapped during the rule of the generals between 1976 and 1983, claims Marcel Zohar in his book Let My People Go to Hell, soon to be published by Zitrin.
Zohar, who was Yedi’ot Aharonot [an Israeli evening newspaper] correspondent in Argentina between 1978 and 1982, describes how the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency and other official bodies refrained from processing immigration applications from Jews with left-wing background, in order to preserve Israel’s good business and political links with the ruling junta. In the same period, arms sales worth about one billion dollars were concluded between Israel and Argentina. According to Zohar, both Likud and Labour leaders shared in the conspiracy of silence.
His book recounts the struggle which took place between Danny Rekanati, the immigration official based in Argentina, and the Israeli ambassador, Ron Nergad. Rekanati tried to help persecuted Jews escape from the country, while Nergad, according to the book, complained about his activities. The unwritten instruction was to refuse any help to Jews defined as ‘too left-wing’.
His book recounts the struggle which took place between Danny Rekanati, the immigration official based in Argentina, and the Israeli ambassador, Ron Nergad. Rekanati tried to help persecuted Jews escape from the country, while Nergad, according to the book, complained about his activities. The unwritten instruction was to refuse any help to Jews defined as ‘too left-wing’.
The late Menahem Savidor, who was Knesset chairman at the time, admitted to Zohar that he had prevented a public Knesset debate on the situation of Argentina’s Jews at the government’s request in order not to harm Israel’s crucial links with Argentina.
As the Jewish Chronicle of 25.5.84. explained:
‘Israel officially did not act until December 1982. “Up to that time, Israel had deferred to Argentine Jewish requests ‘not to interfere’ in the affairs of those who regarded themselves as hostages.” Jewish Chronicle 25.5.84.
By December 1982, when the regime was on its last legs after the attack on the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, it was good PR to take up these issues. And who were these ‘Argentine Jewish requests’ from? The Argentine Zionist organisations, Amia and Daia. When Israeli President, Yitzhak Navon was a guest at the 90th birthday celebrations of Daia it was picketted by the Jewish Mothers of the Disappeared:
A group of women whose children disappeared during the Argentine military regimes crackdown on Left-wing opponents shouted ‘Nazi-Nazi’ at those attending the Congress here of Amia, the central Ashkenazi community of Buenos Aires.
The protestors claimed that Israel, Amia and Daia- the political representative body of Argentine Jewry- had done nothing to help the ‘desaparecidos’ (disappeared ones)…
The guest of honour was Mr Itzhak Navon, formerly President of Israel. The mothers attempted to prevent his entrance to the Conference as well as that of the Israeli Ambassador to Argentina. [Jewish Chronicle 23. 3. 1984. ‘Bitter Protest By Grieving Mothers’]
The guest of honour was Mr Itzhak Navon, formerly President of Israel. The mothers attempted to prevent his entrance to the Conference as well as that of the Israeli Ambassador to Argentina. [Jewish Chronicle 23. 3. 1984. ‘Bitter Protest By Grieving Mothers’]
As Jacob Timmerman wrote,
‘I would forget my torturers, I declared, but never the Jewish leaders who acquiesced calmly in the torturing of Jews.’ Jewish Chronicle 31.7.81.
What makes the arson in Caracas even more suspicious is that 7 of those involved are police officers and another is a security guard at the Tiferet synagogue. This sounds very much like a put-up job by Israeli ‘intelligence’ Mossad. Both Mossad and the CIA have form when it comes to planting bombs to put suspicion on others.
However the President of Venezuela’s Jewish Association, welcomed the arrests.
We thank the authorities for the quick detention of the suspects,” he told the Associated Press.
Information Minister Jesse Chacon said the government’s “excellent relationship” with Venezuela’s Jewish community was in no way affected by Israel’s actions.
Information Minister Jesse Chacon said the government’s “excellent relationship” with Venezuela’s Jewish community was in no way affected by Israel’s actions.
Tony Greenstein
Posted in Blog
