There are charges that Hugo Chavez’s government in Venezuela is sponsoring blossoming antisemitism — concerns that are reflected in the gradual flight of Jews from Venezuela.
It fits with a long history of allegations that Chavez’s Venezuela is becoming a hotbed of antisemitism.
The latest comes via a Miami Herald article detailing the comments of journalist Sammy Eppel. It’s the latest in a piece of an ugly puzzle that has emerged regarding Chavez over the years.
Venezuelan Jews, long uneasy with the Chávez government’s alliances with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries that espouse anti-Israel views, are concerned that the government is sponsoring anti-Semitism in this hemisphere, a prominent journalist said Tuesday.
”The situation we have now in Venezuela is that for the first time in modern history we have government-sponsored anti-Semitism in a Western country,” said Sammy Eppel. “That is why this is very dangerous, not just for the Jewish community in Venezuela but for the Jewish community as a whole.”
Some examples he cites:
Venezuelan government intelligence services twice have raided the country’s most important Jewish center in a vague, ultimately unsuccessful search for weapons. [TMV Editor’s Note: One of these involved raiding a WEDDING.] Publications of the government’s cultural ministry run articles entitled ”the Jewish Question,” along with a Jewish star superimposed over a swastika.
Chavez, he noted, also has a strong alliance with Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a leader who is considered one of the most antisemitic on the world stage today.
One 2006 article in [the government-liked] El Diario de Caracas debates whether it will be necessary to ”expel [the Jews] from the country.” Another article in the [government-linked] Diario VEA accuses Jews of being involved in the murder of a government prosecutor.
The Anti-Defamation League has charged that the Venezuelan government has made the Jewish community a “target for intimidation.”
”We have called on the Venezuelan government to cease their rhetoric and their intimidation of the Jewish community in Venezuela,” said Andy Rosenkranz, the ADL’s regional director for Florida. “It’s very poisonous anytime you have government-sanctioned anti-Semitism take root because it’s a dangerous atmosphere for the Jewish community but it also shows the world kind of intimidation and instigation that the government is capable of displaying.”
Appel, who has written for a variety of publications, says this is part of a pattern against Venezuelan Jews. Venezuela once had 30,000 Jews, but that population has dwindled under Chavez. Many have moved to Florida to get away from Chavez.
In an editorial, the Miami Herald blasts the Venezuelan government:
For years, as a steady stream of Venezuelan Jews moved to South Florida, the disturbing stories quietly rumbled throughout the greater community. The first came in 2004 with the start of anti-Semitic attacks in the government media. Within months, a raid on the Jewish community school in Caracas intensified the alarm.
Over time, especially as the government has strengthened ties with Iran and other anti-Israel countries, a pattern has developed. The government deploys anti-Semitic attacks as a tool for political gain.
…Any human-rights abuse is contemptible — whether against Jews or others. Yet when Jews are targeted, history suggests that more widespread suffering often follows. To their credit, the Venezuelan Jewish community and its supporters, here and elsewhere, have been working behind the scenes trying to stem the anti-Semitic tide. Some Venezuelans fear that public exposure will only make matters worse. Nonetheless, the Venezuelan government should hear a clear message: The international community will not tolerate anti-Semitism in Venezuela or elsewhere in the region.
Some have defended Chavez over the years and said that even Jewish groups felt he wasn’t such a bad guy and blamed the allegations on “neocons.”
But, in fact, and his government has been accused of antisemitism before — and not just by “neocons.”
Here’s part of a Nov. 2006 press release issued by the Anti-Defamation League:
Under the leadership of firebrand President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has experienced a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism, fostered in large part by Chavez’s own rhetoric and that of his government institutions. A new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) details the troubling mix of anti-Semitism and support for radical Islam that — along with anti-imperialism and anti-Americanism — have become the calling cards of the Chavez regime.
“The Chavez Regime: Fostering Anti-Semitism and Supporting Radical Islam” examines recent statements by Chavez, articles in the government-sponsored media and the remarks of academics and government leaders, creating a portrait of a regime that promotes virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attitudes as it seeks to position itself as a regional and world player.
The Chavez regime’s frequent anti-Israel statements, open support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and collusion with radical Islamic leaders like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran are having a “spillover effect” in Venezuelan society, with anti-Israel demonstrations, anti-Jewish graffiti and other displays of anti-Semitism becoming dangerously commonplace, according to ADL. The Jewish population of Venezuela is reportedly about 25,000 people.
“President Hugo Chavez and his government institutions have elevated their anti-Israel rhetoric to dangerous levels, and it often crosses the line into anti-Semitism,” said Abraham H. Foxman. “It is troubling that the leadership of a Latin American country, that once served as a safe-haven for Holocaust survivors and that still boasts a sizeable Jewish community, has taken a wrong turn into fostering hatred, prejudice and bigotry while supporting countries and groups who call for Israel’s total destruction.”
OR read THIS PAGE from the ADL.
OR check out this page on the Stephen Roth Institute For The Study Of Contemporary Antisemitism And Racism’s website. A 2003 entry (before the recent raids) begins this way:
The Venezuelan Jewish community has been concerned about a possible upsurge of antisemitism since the election of President Hugo Chavez in 1998 due to his association with extremist elements both within and outside Venezuela. While no antisemitically motivated physical assaults were recorded, there were numerous expressions of antisemitism in the media. Groups of demonstrators from three anti-Iraq war rallies that took place in Caracas in the first months of 2003 made a detour in order to vandalize the Tiferet Israel Synagogue.
It’s extensive. Read it all.
OR check out THIS BLOG POST from Feb. 2007 with pictures that illustrate the reported situation.
Many of the articles, blog posts etc. that defend Chavez available on the Internet suggest that he is being “smeared” by Bush administration officials, neocons and/or right wingers.
But a reading of the materials on file show that is not the case — and that concern over the plight of Jews under Chavez in fact is being expressed from many quarters who have nothing to do with “neocons” or right wingers.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.