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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: August 10, 2006 |
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Venezuela's Lebanese immigrant community is supporting President Hugo Chavez's threat to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel, but Jewish groups and the Israeli government expressed concern about Chavez's comments on the military offensive in Lebanon.
Chavez said Tuesday night that breaking off diplomatic ties will likely be the next step after Venezuela withdrew its top envoy and Israel responded by calling home its ambassador.
Lebanese immigrant Hassan Bzaih, who says his family lost 12 relatives in an Israeli missile strike last month, said he feels thankful to Chavez for "supporting the victims."
"He's doing something very brave for us," said Bzaih, 30, who owns a clothing shop on Venezuela's Margarita Island and was visiting his family when the airstrike hit their village in southern Lebanon on July 13. He said he was woken by the blast, which destroyed his cousin's house less than 100 yards away.
Chavez has called the Israeli attacks in Lebanon -- which followed rocket fire from Hezbollah guerrillas -- a "new Holocaust," and last week ordered home his top diplomat. Israel responded Monday by calling its ambassador home for consultations, citing Chavez's "one-sided policy" and "wild slurs."
"Most likely the next step will be to break diplomatic relations," Chavez said in a speech Tuesday night. "I have no interest in maintaining diplomatic relations ... nor anything else with a state like Israel."
On a recent trip to Iran, Chavez also condemned Israel for what he called the "terrorism" of its attacks in Lebanon. His Iranian audience responded with shouts of: "Death to Israel!"
The New York-based Anti-Defamation League expressed concerns about Chavez's remarks and his embrace of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and has called the Holocaust a "myth."
"Our concern is not only that it's outrageous to compare Israel to Nazis but what it does is it demonizes Israel and therefore legitimizes anti-Semitism, which may be used by others to justify violence against Jews," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL's national director, said by phone from New York.
"Absolutely it's a one-sided view," Foxman said. "He crossed the line."
A Jewish group in Venezuela, the Confederation of Israeli Associations, also has taken exception to the government stance, expressing "consternation" about the government's "partiality."
David Bachenheimer, the group's general secretary, called Venezuela's move to withdraw its charge d'affairs from Israel "unfortunate."
Some non-Jewish political opponents also criticized Chavez's stance as imprudent.
Arabs in Venezuela, meanwhile, have held protests against the war, and recently burned an Israeli flag outside the country's embassy.
At his home on Margarita Island, Bzaih's 24-year-old cousin, Ali Bzaih, described with tear-swollen eyes how he lost his brother and 11 other relatives last month when the missile blew apart his grandmother's house.
Ali Bzaih, who was in Venezuela that day, recalled how he was talking to his younger brother Naim, 20, by cellular phone when the connection fell just as he was arriving at his grandmother's home. Hassan Bzaih, who spoke with two survivors, said Naim was killed moments later with everyone else in the house.
"That's why Israel will always be our enemy," he said. |
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