The above video shows the vandalism at a synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela. The attack happened on January 31, 2009, when a group of attackers scaled the walls of the synagogue, tied up security guards and ransacked the place, spray-painting anti-Semitic words on the wall, and making off with all the computers-without leaving any fingerprints-a professional job by all accounts. Ordinary hooligans? Not likely.
You might ask yourself why there would be this type of expression against Jews in a Latin-American nation with a diverse population. (The Jewish population in the country is about 15,000.)
Ask Hugo Chavez, a supporter of the Palestinian side of the Middle Eastern conflict. Why should he care? Because to be anti-Israel is to express an anti-American sentiment as well. In fact, Chavez's controlled news media has taken his lead in whipping up anti-Israeli/anti-Jewish feeling.
Below is an article from the pro-Chavez paper, El Diario de Caracas with a translation:
The Zionist Jews
By Tarek Muci Nasir
El Diario Caracas
"Zionists, the destructive sect of radical Jews, are again impregnating
the Jewish community with its animosity towards humanity. The
genocide they executed in Palestine and Lebanon is similar to the
Holocaust which the Nazis executed against them, and they will
undergo another Holocaust because of the global hatred they are
accumulating. If the Jews have charged the Nazis for their victims, they will have to pay Lebanon for their killings. The Jewish race is condemned to disappear, because if they continue marrying among themselves they will continue to degenerate; if they open their marriages they will racially dilute themselves, so their only recourse is to stay united, to provoke wars, and auto-genocides.
Israelis are lying when they say they are the favored people of God;
on the contrary, because they are always at war and without their own
land, it seems that they are marked for having destroyed Jesus
Christ. We should reform the Bible which falsely refers to them as the
chosen race by God, and we will act to stop them from manipulating
the Jewish community. The United States is trapped by Zionists who
control their economy and many critical positions in their government; and we must avoid that this critical situation takes place in Venezuela before they also ruin us, because they can possess any nationality,
but first they act as Jews in whatever land they plant themselves.
Israel couldn't resist that despite possessing Jerusalem as the capital
of the Christian world, Lebanon continued to have more international
tourism, and now, due to international repulsion, Israel will have
even less [tourism].
Let's pay attention of the Israeli-Zionist associations, unions and
federations which are conspiring to Venezuela to take over our
finances, our industries, commerce, construction; which are
infiltrating government positions and politics. Possibly, we'll have
to expel them from the country, as other nations have done, which is
the reason that Jews remain in a continuous state of stateless
exodus, and it is why in 1948 they invaded Palestine, guided by
Albion. Will global justice allow the United States, England, and Israel
to destroy the Middle East to take over its oil? Only the union of its
people will save them.
The only way that humanity will reconcile with the Jews is if these
renounce their Zionist leadership, which aspires to dominate the
world, and if they stop presenting themselves as the Chosen people of
God, and when they do so, we will hug them fraternally as equal
human beings."
(Translation by Venezuelan News and Views blog)
That vile article would not have appeared in El Diario without the approval of the Venezuelan Government (Chavez). The fact of the matter is that this thug Chavez is deliberately fomenting anti-Semitism in his country over the Israel-Gaza fighting. Does one really believe that such a well-planned attack against a synagogue could have been carried out without the connivance of Chavez and his government? I don't.
And I wonder how all you hypocrites in Hollywood feel-those of you who have gone to Venezuela and kissed the butt of this tin pot dictator-all because he opposes America. I'm talking about people like Sean Penn, Danny Glover, and Harry Belafonte. It didn't bother you that Chavez was supporting the FARC terrorists in Colombia. Does it bother you now that we see the hate against Jews that Chavez is fomenting in his country?
Probably not.
To Armagedin-thru=to-you,
ReplyDeleteI have rejected your comment due to its length and the fact (with all due respect) that this Christian's web site is not a place for proscetilyzing.
No offense intended.
From an another article on the matter:
ReplyDeleteVenezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro condemned the "criminal act of vandalism" at the synagogue.
"We call all the Venezuelan people, the entire Venezuelan community, to reject these actions, with the same moral force with which we reject the crimes committed against the Palestinian people," he said.
Venezuelan Information Minister Jesse Chacon also condemned the attack and denied it had any connection with the government.
He said the government's "excellent relationship" with Venezuela's Jewish community was in no way affected by Israel's actions.
Gary, right now all you have is wild speculation and a conspiracy theory.
If you want to really talk about recent anti-semitism in the news, how about the Pope's reinstatement of a Holocaust-denying Bishop? I've been wondering if you would post about that.
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteI am no defender of the Vatican. I haven't been since all this molestation stuff broke out. If I have not written about it, it's because I can't write on everything.
I actually listened to Maduro on the Aporrea website (a pro-Chavez Venezuelan site) and no question, his statement is entirely proper as you described. But Maduro is not the head of state-Chavez is.
But if you think the thesis of this article is "wild speculation" and "conspiracy theory", please reread the El Diario article-which, in a dictatorship like Venezuela, would not have appeared without govt approval.
Or is it that you are defending Chavez because you are a socialist?
Nothing happens in Venezuela without Chavez's knowledge. Nothing. This was very well organized and planned. It is part of a systematic campaign to terrorize the 15,000 Jews in Venezuela. Chavez wants them out, and instead of just kicking them out (which someone would actually notice), he will drive them out with violence.
ReplyDeleteBryan, it is not a conspiracy theory. I get my info from people who have lived there for over 20 years. They are the true experts on Chavez and his tactics.
While I am indeed a socialist and do believe that many of Chavez's policies are constructive and moving in the right direction, I am not a complete apologist for him. For instance, his current campaign to have term limits removed for all elected officials really stinks of a power grab and is a misstep, in my opinion. Hopefully the Venezuelan people will vote down the measure.
ReplyDeleteHowever, yours and Findalis' assertion that Venezuela is some sort of totalitarian dictatorship is completely false. For starters, opposition parties CAN and DO participate in elections. People still have the right to assemble and protest, which they have continued to exercise, both pro- and anti-Chavez sides. Thirdly, and most important in terms of this discussion, is that not all of the media is state-controlled.
Just because El Diario (which is actually a tabloid, from what I read) has a certain bias, it does not necessarily follow that it is therefore controlled by the government and everything printed therein has been approved by the government. Using your logic, does that mean that the Bush administration had direct control over Fox News? Or that the Obama administration now has direct control over MSNBC?
Venezuela is not China or Cuba or North Korea. It is not a totalitarian dictatorship, but clearly a democracy since it has regular elections in which opposition parties can and do participate, the people have the right to freely assemble, and there is still a free press. I'm sorry that the Venezuelan people democratically chose a government that is to the left of your own ideology, but it was THEIR choice.
So the assertion that these despicable acts of hate were carried out by the Venezuelan government or with their knowing support is in complete contradiction of the facts on the ground. The same goes for the assertion that because some tabloid printed anti-Semitic garbage that it must have been approved by the government.
As an aside, I do find it interesting that you won't post about the Holocaust-denying Bishop. That is a pretty big story in anti-Semitic news, but perhaps it doesn't look good for your cause to show that it's not only some Muslims that hate Jews, but also Christians? Perhaps it hits too close to home? I don't know, I just find it curious.
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteI actually don't know what brand of socialism you subscribe to-is it western European style, Swedish etc, or is it Marxist ala the USSR?. In a full communist govt, you are not going to have other parties. Since Communism requires centralized govt control of the economy, govt control of politics naturally follows.
I once lived in a country that had a somewhat authoritarian-military govt (Thailand). They were not communist, but they were not democratic either. They did not have full freedom of the press. As for your analogy of the Bush Admin., noi they did not control Fox and Obama does not control MSNBC (he doesn't have to). But we are not Venezuela.
Hopefully, with time,you will see what a stinker this guy is. Do you approve of his support for FARC in Colombia also?
As for the Holocaust-denying bishop, I would be more than happy to write something about it and condemn him, but I can't write about everything. I will look into it some more. And I do condemn anti-Semitism coming from Christians as much as from Muslims. It's just that there is no comparison at this point in time.
Say, don't you owe me an answer to some question I posed a few weeks ago? I can't remember the topic.
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteI am accepting your challenge to write about anti-Semitism from those outside of Islam as you suggested with the Holocaust-denying priest.
But have you not contradicted yourself when I point out anti-Semitism being propagated in Venezuela-hardly a Muslim country? have I not already pointed out anti-Semitism by nominal Christians when I write about Chavez?