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ADL Says Iran’s HispanTV Spreads Antisemitism and ‘Anti-Jewish Hate’ to Spanish-Speaking Audiences Worldwide
Iranians attend an anti-Israel rally in Tehran, Iran, April 19, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published a report on Monday that accused Iran’s Spanish-language media outlet HispanTV of promoting antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and anti-Israel bias and incitement to its audience of nearly 600 million Spanish speakers around the world.
Established in 2011, HispanTV is financed and run by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting corporation (IRIB), whose head is appointed directly by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The media outlet reaches audiences through satellite, cable, live streaming and social media. It is one of the two top channels IRIB uses to promote “anti-Jewish hate globally,” with the other being the English-language PressTV, according to the ADL.
In its report, the Jewish group gives detailed examples of how HispanTV propagates antisemitic conspiracy theories and misinformation, including Holocaust distortion, delegitimizing Zionism and comparing it to Nazism, spreading antisemitic tropes about Jews and Jewish power, glorification of terrorism, justification for the destruction of Israel, and lies and myths related to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.
In 2013, HispanTV published an article titled “Why Jews Dominate Hollywood,” supporting the antisemitic conspiracy theory about Jewish control over the entertainment industry. Another article from 2015 was titled “Zionism, the Real Ally of Hitler” and a separate article from 2020 was titled, “The New Coronavirus is the Result of a Zionist Plot.”
Following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, HispanTV accused Western media of unfairly portraying Israel as victims and demonizing Iran-backed Hamas terrorists responsible for the attack, in which 1,200 were murdered and about 240 more were taken hostage. The media outlet also broadcast news program and published articles that absolved Hamas of responsibility for the attack.
The ADL report detailing HispanTV’s antisemitic content was released on the 30th anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Federation in Buenos Aires, Argentina, an attack by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group, and backed by the Iranian regime, where 85 people were killed and over 300 were injured.
“Alongside physical violence, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the world’s leading state-sponsor of antisemitism and terrorism, uses cultural centers and media across Latin America to incite hostility against Jewish communities,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who is currently in Argentina. “The cynical use of media outlets like HispanTV to amplify antisemitic conspiracies and disinformation is reprehensible and unethical. In our report, we outline concrete steps to urge policymakers and corporations to take swift action to prevent HispanTV and other Iranian regime media from spreading hate through these platforms.”
The United States sanctioned the IRIB in 2013 and 2022 for spreading disinformation and carrying out human rights violations, including the broadcasting of forced confessions by dissidents and foreign hostages. In 2019, Google blocked 39 YouTube channels connected to Iran, including Hispan TV, for “violating Google’s policies.”
The ADL stated in its report that “unless there is a concerted effort by governments, international organizations, corporations, and other relevant state and non-state actors, HispanTV will continue to spew hateful conspiracies that will radicalize the next generation of antisemites in Latin America and beyond.”
The post ADL Says Iran’s HispanTV Spreads Antisemitism and ‘Anti-Jewish Hate’ to Spanish-Speaking Audiences Worldwide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
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