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Latin America’s biggest online retailer says it reduced antisemitic products by 89% this year
(JTA) — Latin America’s largest online retailer has stripped its digital shelves of antisemitic content this year, the result of a push by the regional branch of the World Jewish Congress.
Mercado Libre (“free market” in Spanish) was founded in 1999 in Argentina by a Jewish businessman there; it boasts 76 million users, making it more widely used than Amazon in Latin America, where it operates in 18 countries.
Last year, the company announced that it would purge books such as “Mein Kampf” and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” as well as Nazi coins, posters and memorabilia, from its offerings. This week, it announced that in the first half of 2021, the number of items available for sale that violated the company’s policies related to violence and discrimination was down 89% compared to the year before.
“We are very proud of the collaborative work we have done in this time,” Federico Deya, Mercado Libre’s senior legal director, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He credited the work the company had done with the Latin American Jewish Congress in effecting the change, which a report from the company said also included a 23% increase in the detection of hate speech in publications for sale on the site.
“Viewing with concern the growth of hate speech and violence, and the lack of action by some companies, this joint effort is an example that we can work with internet companies that have the will,” said Ariel Seidler, program director for the Latin American Jewish Congress and the head of its Web Observatory, an initiative to remove antisemitism from Spanish-language websites. “They play a key role in our societies and must assume their responsibility to build plural societies, with coexistence and diversity.”
The availability of antisemitic material through online megastores has been an area of concern for as long as online shopping has existed. Retailers have pursued various strategies to limit customer access to such materials, including by adding disclaimers to historic works and purging them entire.
But some items have remained available, vexing some watchdogs. The World Jewish Congress has been a particular critic of the availability of “Mein Kampf,” Adolf Hitler’s treatise containing his antisemitic ideology; its president, Ronald Lauder, has said the book “should be left in the poison cabinet of history.” And this year, the Anti-Defamation League pressed Amazon to remove a film containing antisemitic ideas from its third-party vendor system after Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving promoted it; the company declined, with its CEO saying it had a responsibility to appeal to an ideologically diverse customer base’s viewpoints, “even if they are objectionable.”
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The post Latin America’s biggest online retailer says it reduced antisemitic products by 89% this year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.