(CNSNews.com) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has condemned a attack on a Caracas synagogue, but Jewish human rights advocates say the left-wing government paved the way by fostering a climate of politically motivated anti-Jewish sentiment.
The attack also comes amid an upsurge of anti-Semitic incidents in a number of countries this year, as critics of Israeli policies target Jews and Jewish symbols.
In the Venezuelan capital, a group of men overpowered a security guard overnight on Friday, the Jewish Sabbath, and according to police spent several hours in the building, spray painting graffiti and desecrating the synagogue.
A Jewish group, the Association of Israeli Organizations of Venezuela, called the act unprecedented in the country.
Chavez told state television Sunday that his government condemned the attack and hinted that his opponents were behind it.
“You have to ask yourself who does this benefit? And why is the government immediately blamed?”
The incident would not benefit the government or “the revolution,” he said.
Chavez is in the midst of a political battle ahead of a February 15 referendum on proposals that would allow him to extend his tenure for six years beyond the four years remaining of his current term. His previous attempt to do away with presidential term limits failed in a Dec. 2007 plebiscite.
Critics of Chavez say a campaign of anti-Semitism leaving Venezuela’s Jews feeling threatened has gathered steam since Israel began its three-week military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip late last year.
Protesting the operation, Chavez in early January expelled the Israeli ambassador and a week later severed diplomatic ties altogether. Chavez backers demonstrated in support of the move, and graffiti including offensive slogans and Nazi swastikas has appeared in public places, including the synagogue’s walls.
Last week, Israel responded to the expulsion by giving Venezuelan diplomats based in Tel Aviv and Palestinian Authority-controlled Ramallah until Thursday to leave the country. Chavez responded by saying it was an “honor” for his government that the “genocidal” Jewish state had expelled the diplomats.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told the Spanish EFE news agency that the synagogue attack could only have happened with the approval of authorities at the highest level.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) said the weekend incident was “no mere hate crime from the margins of society, but a reflection of President Chavez’s campaign to demonize Israel and her supporters.”
“For this dangerous escalation of hate against a minority to stop, President Chavez’s hate campaign must be denounced by all leaders in the Americas and beyond,” said the center’s dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier, and associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper.
In an earlier protest to the Organization of American States, the SWC said attacks against Venezuelan Jews had been “at least tolerated, if not incited or promoted by state officials.”
It drew attention to a “plan of action” published in pro-government media, calling Israel a Nazi state and recommending steps including the public denunciation of Jewish individuals and companies; boycotts; the confiscation of property and nationalization of businesses belonging to Israel-backing Jews; and support for the dissolution of Israel.
The center urged the OAS to send a field mission to investigate and recommend action against those responsible.
Last week, the president of the Jewish community in Venezuela, Abraham Levy Ben Shimol, told a conference in Jerusalem that in Venezuela anti-Semitism was sanctioned: “it comes from the president, through the government, and into the media.”
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro responded by telling state-run television the government was only coming under fire because of its criticism of the “crimes” of Israel’s political leaders.
Jewish concerns about Chavez predated the Gaza operation, not least because of his warm embrace of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and concerns about links with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite group. The U.S. Treasury Department last June charged that Chavez’ government was “employing and providing safe harbor to Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers.”
‘Distorting history, inciting hatred’
The Israel-based Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism reported late last month that more than 250 anti-Semitic incidents were reported around the world during the 22-day military operation, compared to 80 during the same period a year earlier.
The majority occurred in Europe, where protests frequently saw attempts to draw comparisons between Israeli policies and those of the Nazis.
Among recent incidents, a Norwegian diplomat based in Saudi Arabia reportedly sent out an email message accusing Israelis of “doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany.” Recipients were invited to forward the message to others.
The American Jewish Committee wrote to the Norwegian foreign minister to protest the incident.
“We understand that some in Europe, including Norway, may not share our views,” it said. “But we should all agree that differences of opinion should not be voiced in a manner that egregiously distorts history and incites hatred.”
In Norway and several other European countries, pro-Israel demonstrations were targeted by critics of Israel who in some cases threw stones or other projectiles and attacked people carrying Israeli flags.
In Sweden, when an authorized demonstration by Swedish Jews in Malmo on Jan. 25 was threatened by a large, unauthorized and hostile pro-Palestinian crowd, the police ordered both groups to disperse.
German’s main Jewish organization reported receiving 40 percent more hate email a week during the Gaza operation than usual. One-tenth of the 300 weekly messages were explicit death threats against members of the Central Council of Jews, the group’s secretary general, Stephan Kramer, told a Berlin daily.
The Anti-Defamation League wrote to leaders of eight European countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland – where it said “anti-Semitic displays have been present [during anti-Israel rallies] and condemnations from the highest level of government have been absent.”
It urged the governments to publicly condemn the incidents.
American Jewish organizations also wrote recently to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, saying Jews in Turkey were feeling “besieged and threatened” and linking a spate of anti-Jewish incidents there to “the inflammatory denunciation of Israel by Turkish officials.”
Although Turkey is purportedly an ally of Israel, Erdogan positioned himself at the forefront of those condemning it during the recent fighting, and last week stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos after clashing with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
And in South Africa, the country’s deputy foreign minister caused a stir by accusing Jews and “Jewish money” of controlling America and other Western countries.
Fatima Hajaig made the remark while addressing a pro-Palestinian rally near Johannesburg.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies said it was “extremely disturbed that a member of the South African government has brazenly propagated classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theories at a large public gathering, as well as by the fact that this encouraged and further whipped up the anti-Jewish prejudices of those present.”
Opposition politicians called on Hajaig to apologize or resign.