Venezuela's Jews Fear More Attacks

(AP)  As President Hugo Chavez intensifies his anti-Israel campaign, some Venezuelans have taken action, threatening Jews in the street and vandalizing the largest synagogue in Caracas - where they stole a database of names and addresses.

Now many in Venezuela's Jewish community fear the worst is yet to come.

Chavez has personally taken care not to criticize Israelis or Jews while accusing Israel's government of genocide against the Palestinians. He vehemently denies inciting religious intolerance, let alone violence.

But Venezuela's Jewish leaders, the Organization of American States and the U.S. State Department say Chavez's harsh criticism has inspired a growing list of hate crimes, including a Jan. 30 invasion of Caracas' largest synagogue.

About 15 people overpowered two security guards at the Tiferet Israel Synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting "Jews, get out" on the walls. Most worrisome, according to Elias Farache, president of the Venezuelan-Israelite Association, was their theft of a computer database containing many names and addresses of Jews in Venezuela.

Police are now posted outside the synagogue, and prosecutors said Friday that the security guards "could be involved." Venezuela's attorney general ordered them to court on Feb. 13 - two days before Venezuelans vote in a referendum that could enable Chavez to extend his rule indefinitely.

One week before the invasion, a Chavista columnist named Emilio Silva posted a call to action on Aporrea, a pro-government Web site, describing Jews as "squalid" - a term Chavez often uses to describe his opponents as weak - and exhorting Venezuelans to confront them as anti-government conspirators.

"Publicly challenge every Jew that you find in the street, shopping center or park," he wrote, "shouting slogans in favor of Palestine and against that abortion: Israel."

Silva called for protests at the synagogue, a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses, seizures of Jewish-owned property, the closure of Jewish schools and a nationwide effort "to denounce publicly, with names and last names the members of powerful Jewish groups present in Venezuela."

Aporrea later replaced the column with an apology that describes Silva's posting as anti-Semitic and exhorts Chavistas to show more discipline by criticizing the Israeli government rather than its people or Jews in general.

Silva, a 35-year-old mathematics professor at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, got the message. He told The Associated Press Friday that he couldn't comment on the "controversial subject," and that his "position is to condemn any act that goes against the integrity of any faith or conviction."

But other anti-Semitic writings by Silva remained on the site Friday, including one posted on Jan. 19, a week before the synagogue attack. That posting also crudely criticized a Venezuelan archbishop for failing to condemn Israel's Gaza offensive; offices of the Vatican have been tear gassed twice since then.

With criticism mounting, Chavez phoned Farache Thursday night in a conversation broadcast live on state television, and vowed to guarantee the safety of Venezuela's 15,000 Jews. He condemned the synagogue attack. But he also suggested that it might have been an inside job, and demanded that Jewish leaders publicly recant accusations against his government.

Farache responded saying "we have acted in good faith and with the best intentions to guarantee the tranquility of our community." He also said that Jews hoped to avoid being exploited by the opposition or by Chavez supporters in their referendum campaigns. "Our community is apolitical," he said.

Hate crimes have escalated despite Chavez's declaration that his government "rejects any type of aggression against any temple, be it Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, or any other." And the attorney general's statement Friday gave no details about any progress investigating a list of more than a dozen threats against Jews that the Venezuelan Confederation of Israelite Associations gave her office a week before the synagogue attack.

The group said one threat involved a rabbi who was leaving a Jewish school in Caracas when two men, one wielding a broken bottle, shouted: "Jew, we are coming for you!" A nearby taxi driver offered refuge and sped him away.

Other Jews have stopped wearing yarmulkes while walking to temple on Friday evenings. Simon Galante said he and his brother now fear for their safety after being accosted by men on motorcycles yelling "Murderers!"

"Thank God, nothing more occurred ... we continued walking and ignored the comments, but it's very sad," said Galante, who joined a demonstration against the attacks this week.

For some, fear turned to outrage when Chavez suggested his adversaries could be trying to give ammunition to those who accuse him of anti-Semitism.

Venezuela's Jews include many survivors of World War II, as well as families that have been Venezuelan for two centuries. In the past, Chavez's enthusiastic support of Iran and other enemies of Israel has done little to threaten their coexistence in an overwhelmingly Catholic country.

Now many Jews fear more trouble ahead.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Los Angeles, California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, believes Chavez's rhetoric "has encouraged this atmosphere of hatred which is now being directed against Jews."

"His hostility against the state of Israel has a ripple effect," Hier told the AP in a telephone interview. "Those who support him, and listen to his words, are disposed to dislike Jews."

[indamiddle]

whats the problem with the israel people? theyre always gettin picked on


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Posted by fush2 at 07:38 PM : Feb 08, 2009
+ report abuse

8888888888888888888

Jealousy and envy

[cinoti]

Hamas, is a sad cruel joke, on Palestine.
The pragmatic solution is to create an International Buffer zone! 40,000 troops/police. Declare Palestine a ward of the U.N. (ala Kasovo)
Give it 10 years for the people of Palestine to wake up from their coma, and actually have a real democracy and sane politics. At the same time
protect Israel from terrorists. It is the only rational way forward!

[babooph]

No one should assume all Jews are zionist,or warlike.

[jankebenz]

Hmm, lets see now, loud mouthed ,power hungry, jew hater, riles crowds into violence. Now where have I heard that before?

[runningralph]

Israel is surrounded by hostile forces. It seems impossible that it will be able to survive. While I don''t have much faith in Israel''s survival, I have a lot of faith in their will to fight for survival. The Jews fled from the Romans, and committed mass suicide when under seige at Masada, dispersed and roamed foreign lands, lived in ghettos and prospered, survived the biggest genocide in history. There will be no suicide this time or surrender either. In the face of genocide this time they are able and willing to go down fighting.

[fush2]

whats the problem with the israel people? theyre always gettin picked on

[alshahab]

''Jewish Money'' Controls U.S., Says South African Diplomat
Agence France Presse

South Africa%u2019s deputy foreign minister has been taken before the national human rights body for allegedly saying that "Jewish money" controls the United States, officials said Thursday. Fatima Hajaig allegedly told a political rally two weeks ago in Johannesburg that Jews "control America, no matter which government comes into power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush." "Their control of America, just like the control of most western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money," she allegedly said.

[alshahab]

In the Struggle for Peace and Justice

By Mark Weber

... By supporting Israel and its policies, the United States betrays not only its own national interests, but the principles it claims to embody and defend. The only country in the world that has a nuclear weapons arsenal, that occupies territory of its neighbors, and which is in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions - is Israel. In fact, if the United States were to hold Israel to the same standards that it has applied to Iraq, Serbia, and other countries, American bombers and missiles would be blasting Tel Aviv, and American troops would seize Israel''s leaders and punish them for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

[alshahab]

Israel at 60: A Grim Balance Sheet

By Mark Weber

... Contrary to claims made by American and Israeli political leaders, US support for Israel has never been in America''s authentic national interest, nor has it been based on a commitment to democracy and freedom ... In spite of its impressive military arsenal, and virtually unlimited support from the United States, Israel''s long-term prospects are not good ... Although Israel is a formidable military power, it is an aberrant, crisis-prone state, artificially kept alive with outside support, and based on an unworkable ideology.

[alshahab]

Israel at 60: A Grim Balance Sheet

By Mark Weber

... Contrary to claims made by American and Israeli political leaders, US support for Israel has never been in America''s authentic national interest, nor has it been based on a commitment to democracy and freedom ... In spite of its impressive military arsenal, and virtually unlimited support from the United States, Israel''''''''s long-term prospects are not good ... Although Israel is a formidable military power, it is an aberrant, crisis-prone state, artificially kept alive with outside support, and based on an unworkable ideology.