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| By: israelinsider staff and partners |
| Published: February 26, 2007 |
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A recent request by socialist Venezuelean President Hugo Chavez to pay an official visit to a Chabad synagogue in Caracas was rejected. The Chabad official news site posted an article saying that Rabbi Moshe Ferman, the chief Chabad envoy to Venezuela, had rejected the president's request arguing that it was aimed at garnering political gains in light of the West's revulsion of him.
Chavez who has been in office since 1999, allied with Saddam Hussein at the time, befriended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad, and has even paid them personal visits.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has accused him of anti-Semitism after in one of his speeches he accused the Jews of crucifying Jesus and of holding the entire world's capital. Since Chavez accused the Israeli Mossad of an attempted coup in his country in 2002, the Jewish community has been fearful of his conduct.
The Jewish community of Venezuela -- largely located in Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia and Maracay -- is one of the oldest in Latin America and has a population of 25,300.
Ynetnews contributed to this article. |
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