What can be done to stop the rise of anti-Semitism in Argentina?
Many of Argentina's Jews claim that Israel's Foreign Ministry needs to be more involved, but the Israeli government is limited in the actions it can initiate.
By Yoav Shechter Tags: Jewish World Israel news anti-Semitism Jewish Argentina"Put away the camera! Are you crazy? Somebody will see you soon and this will end very badly," my Argentine friend burst out at me as I tried to photograph a very visible anti-Israeli graffiti in the main square of Buenos Aires.
The graffiti, which called for the end of the Israeli occupation, was sprayed on the front wall of one of the national museums.
"Skinheads are everywhere and they are simply looking for someone to hassle," said my friend Lionel, a young Jew who works as a computer programmer.
The fear I noticed in his eyes at that moment gave me some food for thought with regard to Argentina's true identity, that unrevealed to the average Israeli backpacker.
The Israeli traveler, usually just having finished army service and looking for a carefree journey in South America or elsewhere, is in fact unknowingly protected by the language barrier and limited social environment (which generally consists mainly of other Israelis).
Such a traveler is thus protected in lack of awareness for extreme incidents that occur right under his nose.
For instance, in the center of Buenos Aires, next to the Estroil youth hostel - a highly popular place among Israelis - the communist movement has sprayed malicious graffiti directed against Israel and against Jews.
Most of the hostel's guests do not feel the threat. Also, while in North America and Europe, anti-Semitic activists disguise their racist messages in anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist political criticism, thosein Argentina do not necessarily attempt to do so. Hatred toward Jews is manifested in very clear statements.
Various organizations from both the extreme right and left have begun incorporating violence in their protests and activities. During the latest celebrations for Israel's 61st anniversary that the Jewish community put together, participants were assaulted by extremists using clubs and knives. The event ended with couple of wounded and few detainees, leading to an obvious new situation. Argentina's Jews are afraid to go out there.
The massive increment in the number of anti-Semitic acts in Argentina occurred immediately after the operation in Gaza started last January. Since then, demonstrations against Israel are habitual, violent acts against Jews, property and institutions are frequent, and graffiti is sprayed all over the city.
"The third bomb is coming" read a message spray-painted near the AMIA building, the umbrella organization for Jewish communities in Argentina. That was in reference to the two horrifying bombings in the Israeli embassy and the AMIA building during the nineties. In addition to this, two synagogues in Buenos Aires were evacuated lately due to bomb alert.
Aldo Donzis, president of DAIA, the political arm of the Jewish community, stresses that "the new wave of anti-Semitism is the worst since democracy has returned to Argentina".
Nonetheless, the authorities claim that there is no real reason for concern and that those extremists are under constant watch.
However, the reputation accumulated by Argentine governments and the judicial system throughout the years as well as the endless foot-dragging in the investigation of previous terrorist attacks, do not help creating a feeling of security within the Jewish community there.
"Argentina is a country that let its most atrocious murderers walk free," said a 25 year old woman from Buenos Aires, describing well the martial tyranny period of the 70s.
As a result, the Jewish community in Argentina allocates many resources to strengthen the local organizations who are assigned to fight anti-Semitism and support Israel.
Nevertheless, these organizations' influence is insufficient in relation to similar bodies in North America. This derives from funding capabilities, size of the community and political power.
Many of Argentina's Jews claim that Israel's Foreign Ministry needs to be more involved, but the Israeli government is limited in the actions it can initiate.
Therefore, the latter should focus on continuous support of the independent organizations. These operate admirably in countries where the challenge is enormous, but suffer from a strategic flaw that derives from their own work method. For the most part, they operate where donors are located, rather than where urgent problems exist.
Every Jewish donor is interested, before anything else, in improving Israel's image and battling anti-Semitism in his own surroundings. Maybe now, when there is a new Information and Diaspora Minister in the current Israeli government, a satisfying solution to these challenges can be found.
The author is a student at Tel Aviv University and volunteers with the international education organization for Israel - StandWithUs
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How about the Goyim treat Jewish minorities the way Jews treat the Palestinian minority.
argentina was always antisemitic.I was born there in 1944 at the end of second world war.Had to take a pocket knife t school, Nacional Sarmiento where one of my friends was shot in the arm by t son of a coronel for being a jew, in 1960.The party was called Tacuara and was being managed by the son of Eichman, Rolf Klement.(no one knew then he was t son...)The catholic church always helped the antisemites. I am on a visit from Israel where I made aliyah in 1963, and there are swastikas painted on walls = star of davids on nearly all the corners near pueyrredon st. and avda. de mayo. The arabs ,by the way, where never against the local jews until after t 6 days war.now after menem, they r quite vocal, only 4000 protested against perez visit.which is few. I say to jews here ,:go to Israel (certainly NOT SPAIN)Spain is more antisemitic than argentina.
Well,sad this israeli had a bad experience in BA.I find most israelis enjoy BA and the argentine life,there is prejudice everywhere in this world,and uneducated people as well. I could actually say the same as a jewish-argentine in Nesher,9 months there were enough to be treated as a 2nd class cityzen in a land where I was hoping to feel welcome. Argentina is not a perfect country,but neither is Israel for that matter. There are many in our community who are working hard to live a productive and full life here as a jewish person.These comments n articles don't help.
I am an Argentine Jew living in the US and currently visiting Buenos Aires, my home town. The initial statements in the article are ridiculous. I have seen some antisemitic and some anti-israeli signs, but only a few. The country is in one of the regular crisis, this time from the Great Recession in the rest of the world. Some of these signs equate Jews with rich people and simply mean that they want the rich people to share a bigger burden of the crisis. The anti-israeli signs are related to the Gaza action and are vanishing. The anti-semitism in the US is also real, not so obvious, but perhaps more damaging, Pollard case as exhibit A. I think the article is totally ridiculous. I am staying with family and an Israeli girl, also family, just came to stay with us. She is having a great time, just like I had when I was in Israel early this year. Jews and Arabs here could be an example of coexistence for other parts of the world.
It's unrealistic to believe that anti-Israel sentiments are not the same as anti-semitism. They are one and the same.
What can I say as an Argentinian jew? I just don't see it. Antisemitism isn't at its highest point, it hasn't gotten worse than it has always been, that is, a pretty marginal fenomenon, that becomes visible during the operations in Gaza. Same thing all over the world. Criticism of Israel is yet again not antisemitism.
Mr.Shechter : Could those Argentinian people be reacting to That "operation" in Gaza by being anti-Zionist? Could they be expressing some criticism of the state of Israel? and it's decimation of families and infrastructure in Gaza? "Operation"!?, Was it a genocidal operation or a racist operation ? Was it an exterminating operation or a murderous operation? Against people who were there 2000 freaking years before you were born.
Our president, Ms Fernández, have been a strong supporter of the Jewish community for years. She, and her husband, former president Kirchner, have been accused of Jewish roots by local nazis. But mainstream opinion don't care. Buenos Aires major, Mr Macri, has expressed opinions that can be viewed as slightly antisemitic, when defended a police officer who is accused to erase proofs of local terrorist who bombed AMIA
Antisemitism in Argentina is a traditional activity, from the very beggining of the country. I have Jewish roots, and I see that antisemitism is as used to be, not higher than in Europe or US. Tell your argentine friends not to be coward, and a good way to wipe antisemitism is at hand. Use your fists, skinheads use to ran away
The celebration of Israels independence day is only celebrated by the Jewish comunity in Argentina. If the Syrian comunity dosn't celebrate their independence day is that they forgot or just don't care. Second, the celebration where those insurgents started beating people wasn't in the celebration of Israel's independence day, it was close to the date but it wasn't because of that. In Buenos Aires there was a special celebration called " Festival de las naciones " where all the nations would expose and show something, dancing , music,etc... The first one was Grece, after came Israel and happened what you have read. It was for all the nations not only for Israel. And let me tell you that the Argentinian Jewish are very Argentinians. We care about Israel, because it is the place from where we came, there we have friends and family, and a strong connection. But it's true that the Argentinian governament dosn't do anything to stop that.You can see paintings all arround Buenos Aires/.
The graffiti at the plaza de mayo actually read: "Israel fuera de palestina", which cannot be understood only as "end the occupation". When I read that writing, I think that the one responsible for it denies the existence of the state of Israel, as palestinians call the whole area - Palestine. In addition to that, I find it hard to believe that Argentinian authorities still havent removed that graffity, which is located on a national building in the most central part of the country. Don't you find it weird?
In one word,NOTHING.The only solution for the Jews is to scramble out of there as soon as possible...ISRAEL NEEDS THEM...
argentine's response is typical of many assimilated and aprtially assimilated jews in argenitna, the country has a long stroy of rabid antisemitism throughout society. Problem is that many jews in argentina feel more argentinian than jewish, until someone knocks at their door, much like german jews in the 30s. The AMIA bombing shook some out of their slumber, but not all.
There is no alarming level of antisemitism and the authorities from the Jewish Communities, apart from being ignorant and corrupt, see major blows when there were actually minor incidents. Even their own reports state that antisemitic expressions grew high during israeli conflict, which is what happens everywhere in the world. That said, nobody wants israeli involvement to defend Israel. Perhaps you should leave that to political analysts properly trained in ME politics - which are not too many by the way.
It's true about the paints in the walls, but it doesn't represent the feelings of the argentinian population towards jews. You can not call nazis 50 millons of argentinian for the action of a few extremist. Come to my village in argentina and you will see how jews, muslims and cristians live togheter without problems and segregation, and where they have equal rights. May I see the same in your village?
To be an anti zionist doesn't mean one thinks Israel shouldn't exist or that Jews shouldn't exist. I5 means that a "Jewish" state is a racist state, and that to be accepted, Israel must stop favoring Jews over non-Jews, must stop practicing apartheid and stop occupying and stealing its neighbors' land. It also means we don't believe in a real estate agent God who believes it's OK to dispossess millions of people and turn their homes and land over to another group based on some biblical mumbo jumbo.
One has to ask why your relatives in Argentina who are so upset at the anti-Israel sentiment don't just move to their so-called ancestral homeland. I imagine there is some level of anti-semitism in Argentina, but as in the rest of the world, it is Israel's policies, and zionism, that most people are outraged by. In order for us to judge whether this graffiti is "anti semitic" please do tell us what else you saw, besides "end the occupation" which is of course not the least bit anti-semitic.
Lots of Nazi's escaped to Argentina after the war.
... but not any longer, and even then (from 1974 to 1980) it was the government, not the general population (which has never been more anti-Jewish than in other western countries). The military junta tolerated very nasty and nazi-like antisemitism among its ranks. From the 10 thousand (officially) recognized victims murdered by the dictatorship, about 1000 were Jews, a huge proportion considering that Jews make about 1% of the population. Their ideology was "saving the Christian civilization" and many officers openly declared that Jews were always suspect. The governor of Buenos Aires province at the time blamed 3 Jews for the ills of the world: Marx (destroyed the Christian economy), Freud (destroyed the Christian family) and Einstein (destroyed the Christian concept of time). I wonder how he justified the other famous Jew (Jesus), but fascists are seldom consistent. Most Argentinians always repudiated these ugly troglodites. Hatred of Jews has never been welcome nor widespread.
I believe that what the writer did not realize is that the reason he is not supposed to take pictures of anti-israel graffiti in a public square in Argentina is because his camera will be stolen... not because he will be beaten up by skinheads.
Some guy living in Israel and deciding the anitsemitic factor in Argetina?! I live here for 20 years and its not more antisemitic now than ever before. I have lived in europe and Venezuela, and without a doubt those counries are more hateful to jews than Argentina! As a fact, my son was beaten in the street for being jewish on a visit to Brooklyn, but never here in Argetina!!
i am from argentina and this new is wrong because argentines are not just anti-semitic argentines are anti-human,everyone just wants to save themselves and no one cares about others,argentines just thinks about money and how to betray each other,because of that there are a lot of poor people and ignorance,argentines hate argentines so think what happens with others nationality,in argentine the law is save yourself and do not care about others and we all live in the jungle law the strongest over the weakest and because of that there are a lot of murderers,liars,thieves,the country where everyone belives more than others,argentines are anti-humans.
If argentines would know how much the Jewish people have helped to create all that is good in their country, perhaps they would not hate so much. argentina will be one more domino to fall to total islamic barbarism/terrorislam soon, just like europe.
As an Argentinian, I pictured the situation as it really is. If it contradicts this article, at least you should let other people decide what's to believe. Argentina doesn't have more antisemitism than other countries, the situations described in this article are surreal and inaccurate.
Would you rather "end the occupation" or "one man one vote in one national state?
But the Sojnut will be there for those who cannot afford a trip to Miami,Spain or New Zeland in case of problems.
When you say you are anti Zionist it means you believe Israel should not exist or it means Jews should not exist or both of them?
I agree with you Nic, that's not anti-israli. Although there's in fact anti-semitism here (I live in Argentina, and I'm a jew)situation here has nothing to do with this article. The first phrase of the article is as exagerated as can be. It made me laugh, 'cause just a couple of months ago a friend of mine from abroad came to buenos aires and took a picture of that "anti.israeli" graffiti, and of course nothing happened. I hope that the next articles of this writter will refer to real facts and not just the opinion of one of his friends
A quarter millon jews live in Argentina and they are argentinians. The mayority care about Israel, other do not care at all.If there are problems in Argentina, many argentinian may want to scape to spain, miami or new zeland. Not to Ariel o Petah Tikva. Sorry, but no all argentinian jews want to be saved by the sojnut.
Of course anti-ISRAEL (not anti-semitism) is on the increase because of Israel's arrogance and defiance of international and humanitarian law. BTW I am an anti Zionist.
What else is new about Argentina? I have visited that beautiful country about 15 times since the mid 70's. Their antisemitism started more than a century ago, when Baron De Hirsch financed the acquisition of prime land to settle thousands of Jewish immigrants. Then, the rise of some xenophobic dictators, like Rosas, then later, appearance on the scene of philo-nazi characters, like Perón, Videla and Gualteri, who justified their misdeeds on the serendipitous activities of many liberal and left-leaning Jews in the 70's. However, the two main reasons, stem from eons before: antisemitism has been fed to many Argentinians through their mother's milk , and also, that Argentina never had a true separation of Church and State, the way Benito Juarez did in México (and, like the thousands of casualties, paid the price for it, about 150 years ago). What is surprising is in view of these circumstances, what are Israelis doing visiting there? Is ignorance bliss?. The Argentinian Jews, at least
reflects a low spiritual development Jews add so much to the countries they inhabit.Antisemetism and anti Israel is one and the same for that land was given to the Jews who have a 3000 year connection whereas there never was a palestinian nation before it was crafted by its first leader, nazi inspired Egyptian born arafat. The lands are "disputed"not occupied.Many nazis went to Argentina after ww11.the level of a society is measured how they treat women,the hopeless and helpless, minorities and of course, animals.Look around the world today and it becomes evident which cultures are spiritually high and which are low
Yes, Nic, the graffiti was anti-Israel, but do not cleverly gloss over the anti-Semitism that goes hand in hand with the anti-Israel mood. My Jewish relatives have been in Argentina since the 1910's, and they report to me that anti-Semitism in Argentina while nothing new, it defintely on the increase. Jews are feeling like pariahs there. And don't forget that one bomb was detonated at the Jewsih community center. To anti-Semites there is no distinction between Jews and Israel. Play your semantic tricks if you will, but there it is.
whilst there were other examples later in the peice why does writing 'end the occupation' have t be described as anti israel. i ithink it is quite pro israel - the best thing that could happen to us would be to end the occupation. maybe the grafiti writer was a sensible zionist?