Palestinians

Palestinians, or people of Palestinian descent

Chile’s Palestinians Are Fighting Mad

Latin Arabia Gaza War - 2023-24, News, Palestinians , 0 Comment
Chile’s Palestinians Are Fighting Mad


Posted on YouTube: November, 2023

Source: ‘Chilestinian’ resistance: how Chile became home to half a million Palestinians
The Week
By Rebekah Evans, THE WEEK, UK
November 20, 2023

Chile has become one of the “loudest regional voices” in Latin America condemning Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, said NBC.

“Roots run deep” in Chile for the Palestinian community, with immigration to the nation beginning in the late 19th century, “when Christians fled the faltering Ottoman Empire”, the broadcaster explained.

Despite most Chileans with Palestinian heritage identifying as Christian, this in “no way diminishes the national feeling” of support for the majority-Muslim state, the Morning Star said.

Support for Palestinians has extended outside of Chilean politics, seeping into other influential spheres in the South American nation.

1) There are roughly 500,000 Chileans of Palestinians descent, called Chilestinos in Spanish (Chilestinians in English).

2) They shape the opinion of Chile’s national media.

3) They have influenced the Chilean government to recall its ambassador from Israel.

4) With Chile’s population at 19.5 million, the Palestinians are a little under 3% of Chile’s total population, however they are over half of the Arab population in Chile, so they set the tone for the Arab community … unlike in many other Latin countries where the Arab demographic is titled towards moderate Lebanese Maronites (Catholics).

5) Though the Chilestinians are Christian in the vast majority – about 99% Christian – that does not stop them from identifying with the Palestinian cause, which is heavily Muslim influenced — even though their ancestors fled Palestine to Chile in order to escape the persecution of Christians under the Muslim Ottomam Turks.

6) Many are third- and fourth-generation Chilean, but have risen to be elites.

7) Elites does not capture the full sense of their power. One family, the Yarur family, were industrialists that once produced 60 per cent of Chile’s textiles.

8) They have an elite social club in the capital – see video below.


Posted for YouTube: June 19, 2020

9) They were esconced in a major Santiago business district, the Patronato.


Posted on YouTube: 2013

And now, having reached the top, they pressure the government.

Source: ‘Chilestinian’ resistance: how Chile became home to half a million Palestinians
The Week
By Rebekah Evans, THE WEEK, UK
November 20, 2023

[F]or Chilean Palestinians, the fight will not stop until the people of Palestine are liberated. The community is “clamoring” for a ceasefire, said NBC, holding rallies and pushing for boycotts, as the conflict continues.

They are fighting mad as this tweet (below) from The Palestinian Community of Chile shows:

Roughly translated: 60% of the housing in the Gaza Strip is destroyed.

The power of the Chilestinos resembles the power of the Jewish community in America, as the Jerusalem Post has noted.

Source: Police in Chile guard Jews after anti-Semitic attacks
By Gil Stern, Stern Shefler
August 18, 2010
Jerusalem Post

Public opinion in Chile is often influenced by the country’s politically powerful 200,000 Palestinian immigrants and their descendents.

“The Palestinian community is to Chile what the Jewish community is to the US,” [The president of Chile’s Jewish community, Gabriel] Zaliasnik explained.

[My Note: The Palestinians are closer to 500,000 in number]

This is dramatic to watch.

Chiles is a first world country, but the Chilestino demographic has hijacked the nation’s government so that Chile acts in contradiction to its otherwise first world interests in this matter. Most first world countries support Israel, whether strongly or lukewarmly; but few support Palestine.

The effect is compounded in every aspect of the culture in Chile, which for example has a professional soccer team called Palestino.


Posted on YouTube: Mar 2, 2015

The documentary above (this is a teaser) is Cuatro Colores (Four Colors), which is named after the the four colors of the Palestinian flag [red, green, black, white], and the four colors of the professional soccer team, Palestino, in Santiago Chile.

The Chilestinos have an outsized influence on Chile’s culture, commerce, industry, banking, sports, and politics. They have held Chile’s foreign policy hostage for decades. In many ways, they have Palestinianized Chile.

1 January 2024 – Edited: cleaned things up and added more info.

Again, Who Is Xavier Abu Eid?

Latin Arabia Other, Palestinians, Propaganda 0 Comment
Again, Who Is Xavier Abu Eid?

Google translation:

“War crimes are committed and Hamas is not there… Today Palestinians cannot get to work because of the Israeli blockades… It cannot be pointed out that any attack by civilians can be justified in any way” denounced the political scientist from the West Bank. Chilean Palestinian Xavier Abu Aid (tv12 telemundo)

It is Xavier Abu Eid (or Aid).

He has been around since forever, but I have not read about him for years. He is a Chilean spokesman for the PLO.

Xavier Abu Eid. Who is Xavier Abu Eid?

1) He is Chilean

2) He is a political scientist, and advisor to the PLO, as well as one of their chief spokesmen.

3) He went to Universidad Diego Portales (Diego Portales University) in Chile.

4) He has media clout in Latin America, though he is unknown in the USA.

5) Being Chilean, he is almost certainly Christian.

6) He writes for Al-Damir, a Palestinian-Chilean Magazine, run by the Fundación Belen (Bethlehem Foundation) – English language link, which also exhalts Arab-Chileans in Chilean Life. It claims to have a Christian emphasis, but some have suspected it of working with Hamas.

The name Xavier Abu Eid is almost certainly a pen name, as Xavier is a Catholic name while Abu Eid is probably Islamic.

It is an appeal to Latin Americans.

Ethnic Groups Change the Narrative

Latin Arabia Chilestino, Gaza War - 2023-24, News, Palestinians, Propaganda, Religion , 0 Comment
Ethnic Groups Change the Narrative

El Cid! Hero of Spain, against the Islamic Moors.

The central drama of Spanish and Portuguese history is the Reconquista. The liberation of Spain and Portugal from Muslim tyranny. In the case of Spain, it took 781 years (from 711 to 1492AD).

One would think that such a long struggle would inoculate Latin culture against any sympathies for an Arab cause. And, in the general population, with Spanish and Portuguese ancestry, that might be the case.

However, Arabs have risen to places of prominence in Latin America. And while Jews are nowhere near as prominent as they are in the United States, they still have clout (especially in Argentina).

Much like the United States, Latin America was a land of immigrants. However, unlike the United States, Latin America tended to get more Spanish, Italian, French, and Arab immigrants by percentages than the United States. Latin America veered towards South European and Mediterranean stocks. Hence, it remained heavily Catholic.

The one exception were large amounts of Germans, who – contrary to popular misperceptions – the majority of whom were NOT nazis. Outlier groups like occasional Irish and/or British went to Latin America.

Only recently, historically, have Protestants/Evangelicals made themselves felt in Latin America, chiefly in Brazil and Chile.

But Latin America was culturally homogenous for much of that time.

However, very prosperous Arabs and Jewish groups(though small) are swaying the discussion.

All of this is coming into play during this Gaza War.

Palestinian-Chileans Are Not Taking the 2023 Gaza Operation Well

Latin Arabia Comunidad Palestina de Chile, Gaza War - 2023-24, Other, Palestinians 0 Comment
Palestinian-Chileans Are Not Taking the 2023 Gaza Operation Well

Source: Why Chile’s Response to the Israel-Hamas War Stands Out – Foreign Policy October 13, 2023

Chile, for its part, is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside of the Middle East. Migration peaked in the early 20th century, and the Palestinian Chilean population is estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000 people. The size of the community has impacted Chilean culture, domestic politics, and foreign policy for years. A first-division soccer club is named Palestino FC, and its logo features the colors of the Palestinian flag. The Chilean legislature boasts a large Palestinian caucus. In 2005, Chile became one of the first non-Arab countries to join the Arab League as an observer.

A smaller Jewish community of some 20,000 people also live in the country …

Powerful Chilean congressional and private sector groups have campaigned for Palestinian human rights for years, and the public conversation about the escalating situation in Israel-Palestine over the past week has often taken a more long-term, historical perspective than elsewhere in the Americas, including in the United States.

Chilean analysts who have appeared on television and radio programs and written in newspapers following this weekend’s attack have spoken not only about Hamas’s rampage through southern Israel but also about its broader context. …

That’s not to say that Chile’s public debate was without major rifts and controversies. The Palestinian Chilean mayor of a municipality within the Santiago metropolitan area, Daniel Jadue, tweeted immediately after the attack that “the people of Palestine have a right to resist” before later condemning violence against civilians. When asked about Jadue’s comments, the Israeli ambassador said “they crossed all the lines” while acknowledging that many other Chilean Palestinians had directly condemned the Hamas attacks.

Chile is an outlier. Because of its Palestinian population, which is rich and influential, Chile cannot be expected to tow the Western Line when it comes to Israel or Zionism.

Even though most of Chile’s Palestinians are Christian, many descended from refugees who fled Muslim persecution in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they have a blind spot about “Palestine.” They hate the Jewish state, and are vehemently opposed to Israel.

The Palestinian Community is organizing to get its own side of the story about the Hamas-Israel war out to the public.

They had a public meeting on October 11.

As this video of CLUB PALESTINO (social club( shows, the Palestinians (nicknamed: The Chilestinos) are a political force to be reckoned with.


Posted on YouTube: 2023

So the Chilean government did support Israel … officially, but do so gingerly.

Source: DiarioUChile (University of Chile Daily) – October 7, 2023

Gobierno de Chile condena ataque de Hamás y expresa solidaridad con el pueblo Israel

Government of Chile condemns Hamas attack and expresses solidarity with the Israeli people (translated by Google)

Page 3 of 26
1 2 3 4 5 6 … 26
Show Buttons
Hide Buttons