• Published 08:22 26.11.09
  • Latest update 08:24 26.11.09

Chavez brands Israel a 'murderous arm of the Yankee empire'

During Ahmadinejad, Venezuela President attacks Peres for saying his days in power may be numbered.

By Reuters Tags: Israel news Iran nuclear

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday used a visit by his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to brand Israel as a murderous agent of Washington.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad, on the last leg of a tour of three left-leaning South American nations, hugged, held hands, and praised each other as fellow revolutionaries.

The Venezuelan singled out a comment by President Shimon Peres during a visit this month to South America that his and Ahmadinejad's days in power may be numbered.

"We know what the state of Israel stands for - a murderous arm of the Yankee empire," Chavez told joint news conference. "What the president of Israel said, we take as a threat."

Chavez broke relations with Israel this year. He won praise in the Muslim world after branding Israel's winter offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip as genocide.

His fierce speeches against Israel are taken by some supporters as a green light for anti-Semitism and walls in Caracas are often daubed with anti-Jewish slogans.

Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

OPEC members Venezuela and Iran have grown much closer in recent years. Chavez supports Ahmadinejad's controversial nuclear program, while Iran is helping Venezuela map uranium deposits.

The two leaders signed a raft of business and industrial agreements relating to 129 joint projects that Chavez said ranged from assembling bikes and producing car-parts, to processing milk and building houses.

Ahmadinejad clinched a second term after a disputed June election brought the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and a heavy-handed clampdown on opponents.

His trips to left-leaning Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela this week have helped cement ties with countries that back Iran's nuclear program.

Iran is under pressure to accept a United Nations plan aimed at checking nuclear ambitions. The West suspects the nuclear program is aimed at manufacturing atomic weapons, but Iran insists it is for civilian purposes only.

"What do the imperialists say? That Ahmadinejad is here because we are making the atomic bomb here too," Chavez said.

"They're the ones with the atomic bombs, and remember the Yankee imperialists dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he added, referring to the bombings of Japanese cities that ended World War II.

A leading Chavez critic and newspaper director, Teodoro Petkoff, mocked Ahmadinejad's visit, saying past cooperation deals had led to little of substance, not even the planned production of bicycles.

Karen Hooper, Latin America analyst for Stratfor consultancy, agreed that the worst fears in Washington about Venezuela and Iran's ties may be overblown.

"There is little danger of Venezuela being able to help Iran proliferate," she said.

"Although Iran is short on uranium and Venezuela might have some, even if Venezuela were to deliver sufficient quantities, the real problem for Iran is the enrichment process, which requires technology that Venezuela could not possibly wield."

  • Print Page
  • Send to a friend
  • Share
  • Text Size +|-
 
 
TalkBacks

Why Facebook Connect?

Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.

Add a comment

Add your reply

  • 6. 0 0
    is it moral to kill certain people?
    • jon
    • 26.11.09
    • 18:42

    Is it moral to kill a man like ahmedinejad or chavez? would it have been moral to kill hitler knowing what he was planning? In my opinion, to kill someone you disagree with is amoral, however, to kill someone who vows to wipe another people or country off the map and might have the means to do so, does it then become moral? moreover, does it become a moral imperative to do so? Personally, I think if you look throughout history, certain assasinations have been justified and I think certain ones not carried out are amoral... when is someone going to put a bullet into the little man's monkey brain in the sears sucker jacket? isn't this man what we said we would not allow again? isn't it plain to see?

  • 5. 0 0
    chavez brands Israel murderous
    • Lawrence Kohn
    • 26.11.09
    • 17:13

    Russia is the patron of these two allies and is using Iran as its wedge in its continuing long range goal: hegemony in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean. Venezuela serves Russia in its effort to undermine the strategic rear of the U.S. This is why Russia sold Iran missile technology, conventional arms and nuclear reactors, why it works to dilute UN action against Iran and why it has armed Venezuela. A strong Israeli-American alliance stands between Russia's goals in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere as well as the goals of Russia's Venezuelan and Iranian clients. Returning Israel to the 1949 armistice lines or withdrawing American forces from the Middle East or appeasing the new left leaders in South America at the expense of leaders such as Uribe in Columbia would facilitate Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan goals. See Midstream magazine April 1999 The New Russia and Iranian "Moderates" and December 2000 Russia, Venezuela and the Palestinian Authority.

  • 4. 0 0
    I guess Chavez plays for the Red Sox
    • Avinoam
    • 26.11.09
    • 16:24

  • 3. 0 0
    iran search fro uraniun
    • hugo
    • 26.11.09
    • 13:23

    This litle criminal from Iran is doing hard work to secure is mineral to make the A Bomb with the visit to Bolivia the Bolivian Uraniun has been send all ready to venezuela Wake up where is our inteligence service is plenty material taken out from bolivia by aereoplane from venezuela,VAF,

  • 2. 0 0
    Chavez should have been eliminated when it was still possible
    • arthur
    • 26.11.09
    • 11:14

    I still remember how Ha'aretz gave great importance to the (previous) Jewish leader of Venezuela who condemned Bnai Brith USA for claiming Chavez was an antisemite and who is the source of increased anti semitism in Venezuela. Ha'aretz claimed how can these arrogant US Jews claim Chavez is anti semitic when the Jews in Venezuela claim he is their buddy?!! Well it was fear for their economic interests and physical well being!! Ha'aretz I hope in the future you publish more active about endangered Jewish communities as violence against Jews has become too normal again, especially in Latin America!!!

  • 1. 0 0
    Thats Nice
    • Brendan
    • 26.11.09
    • 11:02

    But you still can't dictate the cost of flour on the open market. It just doesn't work that way comrade. And Ahmadinejad is maricon according to our best intelligence from the Syrian brothers. And they know these things. Write me one poem.