Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Ol'ga Kuznetsova
[REGNUM] The aggravation of the situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone has found a reaction in all corners of the world. Moreover, the fact that Latin America is located on the other side of the world has not changed this state of affairs at all.
The region showed a rather mixed picture in its attitude to what is happening.
And it’s understandable: Latin America is home to the largest communities of both Jews and emigrants from the Middle East.
In addition, the kibbutzim in Israel that were attacked by Hamas were home to many elderly South American immigrants.
These people left for Israel in the first decades after its emergence, but retained ties with Latin America and the local diaspora, which immediately began work: organizing rallies, marches, convincing the “wrong” politicians and supporting those who responded “properly.”
Both of them turned out to be enough.
"THESE WILD BEASTS"
One of the most striking pro-Israeli statements was made by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
He called for an end to the Hamas group and compared it to gangs of drug traffickers, against whom he himself once declared a merciless war. In addition, Bukele added that the complete disappearance of Hamas is the best thing that can happen to the Palestinian people, and “these wild animals” do not represent all Palestinians.
This sounds especially poignant because Nayib Bukele himself is the son of an imam of Palestinian origin and has repeatedly identified himself as Palestinian. True, he managed to change the faith of his ancestors to Catholicism, like most Latin American right-wing politicians.
You shouldn’t be surprised by this: the vast majority of the Palestinian diaspora in Latin America were at most born in the Middle East, but did not experience all the charm of life there. But they managed to join the business elite of the Western Hemisphere (the same can be said about the Lebanese, Syrians and Egyptians), and therefore they pay more attention to the preservation of certain cultural and memorial aspects, and prefer not to highlight political issues.
In addition, they calmly began to practice mixed marriages with locals and are quite loyal to the fact that their children change their faith (most often to Catholicism, Protestantism, or, like the supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid, to their own, greatly simplified version of Islam ) .
Returning to Nayib Bukele’s position, we can say that his support for Israel was expected: the politician often expressed admiration for the structure of Israeli society, tough political measures, as well as widespread militarization - which, by the way, he, to some extent, managed to implement in El Salvador .
ARGENTINA: IN RESONANCE WITH THE RECENT PAST
It is very interesting to observe the reaction to events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone from Argentina: a country where one of the largest Jewish diasporas in the world lives. And also the countries where many Nazi criminals fled after the defeat of Germany in World War II.
The Argentine leadership condemned the terrorist attacks on Israel and also expressed solidarity with the Jewish people. Almost immediately, pro-Israeli demonstrations took place in Buenos Aires, organized by the local diaspora - and at the same time by the American embassy.
Controversial presidential candidate Javier Miley expressed full support for Israel, recognized the country's right to defend itself against terrorism, and even earlier told voters about his plans to convert to Judaism and move the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem.
The local public perceives the situation in the Middle East more acutely than many on the continent also because, until recently, Argentina was the place where the worst terrorist attacks against the Jewish people since the Second World War took place in 1992 and 1994.
In 1992, the headquarters of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was rammed by a car filled with explosives. As a result, 22 people were killed and more than two hundred were injured. The Islamic Jihad group (whose militants are also involved in the current attack on Israel) claimed responsibility for the incident.
In 1994, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Argentine Jewish Cultural Center. 85 people were killed, and over three hundred more were injured. As a result, local intelligence blamed Hezbollah and the Iranian leadership for the incident.
By the way, Iran is still facing the consequences of these stories: officials from certain structures (in particular, the IRGC) are often arrested when flying through Argentina to other Latin American countries on suspicion of organizing the above terrorist attacks.
True, for the most part, instructions and recommendations for such actions come not so much from official Buenos Aires as from the FBI.
TEAM "AGAINST"
In addition to supporting Israel, the leadership of some countries on the continent also expressed a diametrically opposite point of view, especially after the bombing of the Gaza Strip began.
Venezuelan President (and Iran's longtime partner) Nicolas Maduro has accused the Israeli authorities of genocide against the Palestinian people.
Chilean leader Gabriel Boric condemned the killings of civilians both at the hands of Hamas and the Israeli army, which has carried them out “for decades.” Borich also considered it his duty to report that Palestine was subject to illegal occupation.
The Chilean Foreign Ministry reacted more restrainedly, calling on both sides to stop using force against civilians.
True, this position aroused furious indignation at the Israeli Embassy: they considered it offensive that the very name of their country appears in the same category as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, although there is supposedly “no reason for this.”
But, as practice has shown, these were just the beginnings - a skirmish with Colombian President Gustavo Petro awaited the Israeli structures ahead .
"YOU ARE COPYING AUSCHWITZ IN GAZA"
It all started relatively peacefully - Gustavo Petro made statements in the spirit of aspirations for the resumption of negotiations and an end to attacks on civilians. However, after the Israeli Defense Minister in one of his statements made the statement “humanoid animals” when speaking about the Palestinians, the Colombian President did not remain silent.
On social networks, he wrote that “this is exactly what the Nazis said about the Jews in their time ,” under no circumstances should Nazism be allowed to take root again in international politics, and the speeches that the Israeli leadership allows will only lead to a new Holocaust.
Israel's Ambassador to Colombia, Gali Dagan, had previously been dissatisfied with Petro's failure to directly condemn Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli territory in which children were killed. The Colombian leader responded to this that children are also dying at the hands of terrorists in Gaza and in Colombia itself, and Gaza itself is being completely turned into a concentration camp, committing a crime against humanity.
Dagan suggested that the president go to Auschwitz and see what a concentration camp is like there - and Petro said that he had already visited Auschwitz and could see perfectly well how “they are now copying this in Gaza.”
Later it turned out that the President of Colombia at one time studied the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations, and therefore called everyone who wants to destroy the Palestinian people neo-Nazis, and said that if he had lived in Germany in 1933, he would have fought on the side of the Jews, and if in 1948 in Palestine, then on the side of the Palestinians.
Such comparisons have already caused outrage among the leadership of the World Jewish Congress and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Complex. They condemned Petro's statements, equating them with denial of the Holocaust, an insult to both its victims and the entire Jewish people in addition.
IT'S OKAY
All of the above reactions look interesting, but, if you look at them as a whole, they are not unexpected and are in line with the usual relations of Latin American countries with Israel.
For example, in Venezuela, Israel is considered an extension of the United States, and Iran (and everyone associated with it) is a partner and ally. The Chilean authorities refused to accept credentials from the Israeli ambassador back in September amid the killings of Palestinian civilians, and Gustavo Petro had criticized Israeli soldiers before.
Right-wing Latin American politicians - such as Nayib Bukele and officials from the teams of former presidents of Colombia and Brazil - adhere to largely pro-Israel narratives and condemn the Palestinian side.
Another question is what is planned to be done after the hot phase of the conflict subsides with those who, during these turbulent days, were caught “denying the Holocaust” or refused to mourn to the extent assigned to a particular country by the Israeli mission. In normal times, criticism of the World Jewish Congress or Yad Vashem would not have gone unheeded.
However, now there is every chance that both Gabriel Borich (a quite pro-American liberal) and Gustavo Petro (also not an enemy of any of the American parties) will be able to get away with it.
There is too much evidence that both warring sides do not stand on ceremony with the civilian population - in connection with which it will become much more difficult to maintain the usual “white coat”.
by Ol'ga Kuznetsova
[REGNUM] The aggravation of the situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone has found a reaction in all corners of the world. Moreover, the fact that Latin America is located on the other side of the world has not changed this state of affairs at all.
The region showed a rather mixed picture in its attitude to what is happening.
And it’s understandable: Latin America is home to the largest communities of both Jews and emigrants from the Middle East.
In addition, the kibbutzim in Israel that were attacked by Hamas were home to many elderly South American immigrants.
These people left for Israel in the first decades after its emergence, but retained ties with Latin America and the local diaspora, which immediately began work: organizing rallies, marches, convincing the “wrong” politicians and supporting those who responded “properly.”
Both of them turned out to be enough.
"THESE WILD BEASTS"
One of the most striking pro-Israeli statements was made by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
He called for an end to the Hamas group and compared it to gangs of drug traffickers, against whom he himself once declared a merciless war. In addition, Bukele added that the complete disappearance of Hamas is the best thing that can happen to the Palestinian people, and “these wild animals” do not represent all Palestinians.
This sounds especially poignant because Nayib Bukele himself is the son of an imam of Palestinian origin and has repeatedly identified himself as Palestinian. True, he managed to change the faith of his ancestors to Catholicism, like most Latin American right-wing politicians.
You shouldn’t be surprised by this: the vast majority of the Palestinian diaspora in Latin America were at most born in the Middle East, but did not experience all the charm of life there. But they managed to join the business elite of the Western Hemisphere (the same can be said about the Lebanese, Syrians and Egyptians), and therefore they pay more attention to the preservation of certain cultural and memorial aspects, and prefer not to highlight political issues.
In addition, they calmly began to practice mixed marriages with locals and are quite loyal to the fact that their children change their faith (most often to Catholicism, Protestantism, or, like the supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid, to their own, greatly simplified version of Islam ) .
Returning to Nayib Bukele’s position, we can say that his support for Israel was expected: the politician often expressed admiration for the structure of Israeli society, tough political measures, as well as widespread militarization - which, by the way, he, to some extent, managed to implement in El Salvador .
ARGENTINA: IN RESONANCE WITH THE RECENT PAST
It is very interesting to observe the reaction to events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone from Argentina: a country where one of the largest Jewish diasporas in the world lives. And also the countries where many Nazi criminals fled after the defeat of Germany in World War II.
The Argentine leadership condemned the terrorist attacks on Israel and also expressed solidarity with the Jewish people. Almost immediately, pro-Israeli demonstrations took place in Buenos Aires, organized by the local diaspora - and at the same time by the American embassy.
Controversial presidential candidate Javier Miley expressed full support for Israel, recognized the country's right to defend itself against terrorism, and even earlier told voters about his plans to convert to Judaism and move the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem.
The local public perceives the situation in the Middle East more acutely than many on the continent also because, until recently, Argentina was the place where the worst terrorist attacks against the Jewish people since the Second World War took place in 1992 and 1994.
In 1992, the headquarters of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was rammed by a car filled with explosives. As a result, 22 people were killed and more than two hundred were injured. The Islamic Jihad group (whose militants are also involved in the current attack on Israel) claimed responsibility for the incident.
In 1994, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Argentine Jewish Cultural Center. 85 people were killed, and over three hundred more were injured. As a result, local intelligence blamed Hezbollah and the Iranian leadership for the incident.
By the way, Iran is still facing the consequences of these stories: officials from certain structures (in particular, the IRGC) are often arrested when flying through Argentina to other Latin American countries on suspicion of organizing the above terrorist attacks.
True, for the most part, instructions and recommendations for such actions come not so much from official Buenos Aires as from the FBI.
TEAM "AGAINST"
In addition to supporting Israel, the leadership of some countries on the continent also expressed a diametrically opposite point of view, especially after the bombing of the Gaza Strip began.
Venezuelan President (and Iran's longtime partner) Nicolas Maduro has accused the Israeli authorities of genocide against the Palestinian people.
Chilean leader Gabriel Boric condemned the killings of civilians both at the hands of Hamas and the Israeli army, which has carried them out “for decades.” Borich also considered it his duty to report that Palestine was subject to illegal occupation.
The Chilean Foreign Ministry reacted more restrainedly, calling on both sides to stop using force against civilians.
True, this position aroused furious indignation at the Israeli Embassy: they considered it offensive that the very name of their country appears in the same category as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, although there is supposedly “no reason for this.”
But, as practice has shown, these were just the beginnings - a skirmish with Colombian President Gustavo Petro awaited the Israeli structures ahead .
"YOU ARE COPYING AUSCHWITZ IN GAZA"
It all started relatively peacefully - Gustavo Petro made statements in the spirit of aspirations for the resumption of negotiations and an end to attacks on civilians. However, after the Israeli Defense Minister in one of his statements made the statement “humanoid animals” when speaking about the Palestinians, the Colombian President did not remain silent.
On social networks, he wrote that “this is exactly what the Nazis said about the Jews in their time ,” under no circumstances should Nazism be allowed to take root again in international politics, and the speeches that the Israeli leadership allows will only lead to a new Holocaust.
Israel's Ambassador to Colombia, Gali Dagan, had previously been dissatisfied with Petro's failure to directly condemn Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli territory in which children were killed. The Colombian leader responded to this that children are also dying at the hands of terrorists in Gaza and in Colombia itself, and Gaza itself is being completely turned into a concentration camp, committing a crime against humanity.
Dagan suggested that the president go to Auschwitz and see what a concentration camp is like there - and Petro said that he had already visited Auschwitz and could see perfectly well how “they are now copying this in Gaza.”
Later it turned out that the President of Colombia at one time studied the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations, and therefore called everyone who wants to destroy the Palestinian people neo-Nazis, and said that if he had lived in Germany in 1933, he would have fought on the side of the Jews, and if in 1948 in Palestine, then on the side of the Palestinians.
Such comparisons have already caused outrage among the leadership of the World Jewish Congress and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Complex. They condemned Petro's statements, equating them with denial of the Holocaust, an insult to both its victims and the entire Jewish people in addition.
IT'S OKAY
All of the above reactions look interesting, but, if you look at them as a whole, they are not unexpected and are in line with the usual relations of Latin American countries with Israel.
For example, in Venezuela, Israel is considered an extension of the United States, and Iran (and everyone associated with it) is a partner and ally. The Chilean authorities refused to accept credentials from the Israeli ambassador back in September amid the killings of Palestinian civilians, and Gustavo Petro had criticized Israeli soldiers before.
Right-wing Latin American politicians - such as Nayib Bukele and officials from the teams of former presidents of Colombia and Brazil - adhere to largely pro-Israel narratives and condemn the Palestinian side.
Another question is what is planned to be done after the hot phase of the conflict subsides with those who, during these turbulent days, were caught “denying the Holocaust” or refused to mourn to the extent assigned to a particular country by the Israeli mission. In normal times, criticism of the World Jewish Congress or Yad Vashem would not have gone unheeded.
However, now there is every chance that both Gabriel Borich (a quite pro-American liberal) and Gustavo Petro (also not an enemy of any of the American parties) will be able to get away with it.
There is too much evidence that both warring sides do not stand on ceremony with the civilian population - in connection with which it will become much more difficult to maintain the usual “white coat”.