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Argentina Records Massive Spike in Antisemitism Following Oct. 7 Attack
Argentina’s President Javier Milei attends a commemoration event ahead of the anniversary of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Martin Cassarini
Argentina experienced a 44 percent increase in reported antisemitic incidents last year, mostly after the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, according to a report issued by the country’s Jewish umbrella organization on Monday.
The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) presented the results of the 25th Annual Report on Antisemitism in Argentina to the Buenos Aires City Legislature, showing that Argentina was the latest country to record a massive increase in antisemitism since last fall, amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
According to the report, a total of 598 complaints of antisemitism were registered in 2023, and a staggering 57 percent of all such antisemitic cases occurred in just the three months after the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
“There was a significant rise in Judeophobia in universities, and anti-Zionist rhetoric increased by 380 percent compared to 2022, across the country,” the organization said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the report found that some 65 percent of antisemitic acts occurred in the “digital space,” while the remaining number of incidents in the “physical space” marked a significant increase from the prior year.
“The [Oct. 7] massacre increased the number of [antisemitic] complaints, far from generating empathy and condemnation,” DAIA executive director Victor Garelik said during the presentation, according to Argentine media. “On that fateful day, thousands of people were murdered, women were raped, children were kidnapped and massacred.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped over 250 hostages during their Oct. 7 onslaught across southern Israel. The surprise invasion, in which the terrorists perpetrated mass sexual violence against the Israeli people, was the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with an ongoing defensive military campaign in neighboring Hamas-ruled Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the terror group’s military and governing capabilities.
Nonetheless, Israel has been widely blamed worldwide for both the massacre and the ensuing Gaza conflict, helping to fuel the global surge in antisemitism following Oct. 7.
“It is shamefully cynical to blame the Israelis for their own tragedy,” said DAIA president Jorge Knoblovits.
The DAIA report found that visceral hatred of Israel was a major source of the surge in antisemitism, causing 40 percent of last year’s antisemitic incidents in Argentina compared to just 11 percent the prior year.
“In various countries, protests against the existence of the State of Israel have multiplied, manipulating public opinion with unsubstantiated information accusing the victims of being the perpetrators. At the same time, levels of anti-Jewish hatred have increased,” Knoblovits said at the presentation of the report, according to Argentine media.
“Universities in our country were the place where hundreds of students and teachers expressed their hatred of both the State of Israel and, on occasion, the Jewish community,” Garelik added.
Twice as many in-person antisemitic cases occurred after Oct. 7 in Argentina last year than during the prior nine full months of 2023. One such incident after the Hamas massacre was a building that hung a sign reading, “Zionists out of Palestine. This did not start on 7/10. Hitler fell short,” according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Jewish Argentine leaders noted that while their community has not experienced some of the more violent antisemitic attacks seen in the US and Europe, they must be vigilant.
“Although in our country there have not been situations of extreme violence as in Europe or the United States, it is still a concern and a permanent challenge to prevent its escalation,” Garelik said. “We must be vigilant; the task of prevention and clarification must continue without interruption. Clear and timely information dismantles prejudices and stigmatizations. Let us exalt democracy, and continue working towards respect for the Jewish community, for our ideals.”
Argentina has been hardly alone in reporting a surge in anti-Jewish crimes. In the spring, for example, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high. Most of the outrages occurred after Oct. 7, during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, antisemitic incidents have also skyrocketed to record highs in several other countries around the world, especially in Europe, since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
“2023 was a pivotal year in terms of antisemitism worldwide,” academic researcher Verónica Constantino said in a statement in response to the DAIA findings. “Following the attack perpetrated in Israel by the terrorist group Hamas and the subsequent war that broke out, antisemitic acts multiplied throughout the [Jewish] diaspora. Even in the moments after the attacks, voices were heard celebrating the massacre. Argentina was no exception.”
Argentina has become a key player in organizing efforts to combat antisemitism in recent months. In July, for example, more than 30 countries led by the United States adopted “global guidelines for countering antisemitism” during a gathering of special envoys and other representatives from around the globe in Argentina.
The gathering came one day before Argentina’s Jewish community commemorated the 30th anniversary of the 1994 targeted bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Argentine President Javier Milei, a vocal supporter of the Jewish community, promised to right decades of inaction and inconsistencies in the investigations into the attack.
In April, Argentina’s top criminal court blamed Iran for the attack, saying it was carried out by Hezbollah terrorists responding to “a political and strategic design” by Iran.
Iran is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terror group with weapons, funding, and training.
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Israel Police: 2023 Hezbollah Attack Targeted Former Defense Minister Ya’alon
Moshe Ya’alon gestures as he speaks during the presentation of the list for the Israel Resilience Party in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 19, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/ Amir Cohen
JNS.org — The target of an attempted bombing by Hezbollah in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park a year ago was former Israeli Defense Minister and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, the Israel Police revealed on Wednesday.
“On Sept. 15, 2023, an explosive device exploded in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv with no casualties; the investigation was assigned to the Central Unit of the Tel Aviv District Police and the Israel Security Agency (ISA),” the statement said.
A probe, which included an analysis of security cameras “focusing on relevant parties who used to frequent the area of the attack at the relevant time,” led to the conclusion that Ya’alon was targeted, it added.
The terrorist group “had installed a camera on the body of the explosive charge in such a way that it was possible to observe movements on the park’s trails remotely,” but failed to hurt Ya’alon, according to the police.
The news came a day after the ISA revealed that a cell associated with Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah was responsible for placing the explosive, which was planted next to a tree in the bustling park in the north of the coastal metropolis.
Ya;alon, 74, was named chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 2002, retiring three years later after 37 years of military service. He subsequently served as minister of defense on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party in successive governments before running for Knesset together with former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz in 2019.
יעד פיגוע המטען בפארק הירקון לפני כשנה הוא הרמטכ״ל ושר הביטחון לשעבר משה בוגי יעלון, שמונה חשודים נעצרו
בתאריך 15.09.23 אירע פיצוץ מטען בפארק הירקון בת”א ללא נפגעים והחקירה הוטלה על היחידה המרכזית של מחוז ת”א והשב”כ. במסגרת החקירה עלה חשד, כי הפעלת המטען הינו אירוע פיגוע חבלני…
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) September 18, 2024
In related news, the ISA announced on Tuesday that it had thwarted a second attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior security official. According to the ISA, the attack involved an explosive device and was intended to be carried out in the coming days.
The security agency described the explosive device as a “type of Claymore anti-personnel mine known to be used by Hezbollah,” similar to the charge used in the planned attack on Ya’alon in September 2023.
The planned terrorist attack was said to have been prevented “in the final stages of implementation,” the ISA noted, adding that the targeted Israeli official has been updated by security forces and that additional details could not be provided “at this stage.”
Arab media reported on Wednesday that the intended target of the bombing was Aviv Kochavi, who was the IDF chief of staff between 2019 and 2023. Hezbollah operatives surveilled the retired military leader at a “sports facility” he used to frequent in Tel Aviv, according to the reports.
Hezbollah has attacked northern Israel nearly daily since it joined the war against the Jewish state in support of Palestinian Hamas on Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have so far killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah blamed Jerusalem for the pager explosions that wounded some 3,000 of its operatives and killed 12 in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, warning that Israel will get “its fair punishment.”
The post Israel Police: 2023 Hezbollah Attack Targeted Former Defense Minister Ya’alon first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Finland’s President Defends Decisions to Buy Israeli Arms, Not Recognize Palestinian State
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb speaks during an interview in Helsinki, Finland, Sept. 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Attila Cser
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb defended his country’s decision to buy arms from Israel despite the war in Gaza, saying it had no link to Finland’s unwillingness to recognize an independent Palestinian state at the present time.
Finland is acquiring a ground based, high altitude, missile defense system called David’s Sling from Israel. Helsinki considers the system a high priority for its own defense due to neighboring Russia’s ongoing missile attacks on civilian and military targets in Ukraine.
Stubb, who took office in March, has defined his and Finland’s new foreign policy stance as “values-based realism,” which he has said was about “achieving things in the world as it is,” instead of “promoting only the world how I want to see it.”
In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Stubb said the time was not right to recognize a Palestinian state, even though its Nordic neighbors, Sweden, Iceland, and most recently Norway, have done so.
“In the case of Israel and Palestine, values-based realism is prevalent in our thinking on the recognition of Palestine in the sense that we want that recognition, not if, but when it happens, to have an impact towards a two-state solution and a peaceful solution,” he said.
Last month, Stubb told Finnish diplomats that Finland’s recognition of a Palestinian state was “a matter of time” and that the right time would be picked strategically to promote peace in the Middle East.
He said the decision had “nothing to do with” the arms deal with Israel.
“In that one, I only look at realism, in other words, the fact that we need those weapons. So that’s when I look at Finnish security.”
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Egypt Won’t Accept Security Changes on Gaza Border, Foreign Minister Says
Egyptian soldiers stand guard near the Rafah Crossing at the Egypt-Gaza border, in Rafah, Egypt, July 4, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
Egypt will not accept any changes to the security arrangements that were in place on its border with Gaza before war broke out between Israel and Hamas last October, the Egyptian foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Security on the border, and whether Israel will maintain a troop presence along a 14-km (9-mile) buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor, have become a focal point of months-long talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
Israeli troops entered the buffer zone in May as they pursued an offensive around Rafah.
Egypt, which is a mediator in ceasefire talks, says Israel must withdraw and that a Palestinian presence needs to be restored at the Rafah crossing between Egypt‘s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza.
“Egypt reiterates its position, it rejects any military presence along the opposite side of the border crossing and the aforementioned [Philadelphi] corridor,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters during a press conference in Cairo with US counterpart Antony Blinken.
Abdelatty also said that any escalation, including blasts that wounded Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon on Tuesday, would create hurdles for the completion of a Gaza ceasefire deal.
The post Egypt Won’t Accept Security Changes on Gaza Border, Foreign Minister Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.