History

Sometimes you have to wonder if the safe assumption is that people are generally idiots, because this next story is proof that people will believe the most ridiculous things.

Worse yet, this idiocy is being pushed by Iran’s HispanTV. HispanTV is a propaganda outlet which, sadly, has influence in South America.

But first, we have to do a backgrounder.

WHAT IS PATAGONIA?

Patagonia is in red.
Modified from Wikipedia Original.

Patagonia is the southern most region of South America, split between both Argentina and Chile. It was settled – by white governments – very late in history, only by the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Until then, it was very sparsely populated – chiefly by native Mapuche and Tehuelche people – and up for grabs. Indeed Chile and Argentina vied for the area. They only agreed to split it around 1879, when Chile was at war with Peru and Bolivia.

So to Europeans, it was considered available for the taking, not really settled by anyone.

THE ORIGINAL ZIONISTS CONSIDERED ARGENTINA?

When Herzl published THE JEWISH STATE in 1896, his goal was to set up a state for the Jewish people, as an ethnic group … an ethnostate, where Jews would be safe. The security of the Jewish people was the primary issue. The location of this Jewish State was of secondary concern. Since the Holy Land was then controlled by Ottoman Turkey, Herzl pondered if areas of Argentina (which was then sparsely populated, even by whites) would make an agreeable area for a Jewish state.

In fact, Herzl wrote in the Jewish State …

Source: The Jewish State – Jewish Virtual Library

PALESTINE OR ARGENTINE?

Shall we choose Palestine or Argentine? We shall take what is given us, and what is selected by Jewish public opinion. The Society will determine both these points.

Argentine is one of the most fertile countries in the world, extends over a vast area, has a sparse population and a mild climate. The Argentine Republic would derive considerable profit from the cession of a portion of its territory to us. The present infiltration of Jews has certainly produced some discontent, and it would be necessary to enlighten the Republic on the intrinsic difference of our new movement.

However, even though Patagonia was not spelled out as the specific area in mind, it surely was considered.

It was true that Argentina was in debt and could use the money. It was true that Argentina was sparsely populated and could have spared a province or two.

Indeed, a Jewish philanthropist, Baron Maurice de Hirsch, had already set up a Jewish community [old video from 2011] in the Sante Fe Province of Argentina, in the subtropical pampas, northwest of Buenos Aires. He claimed to have secured promises from Argentine authorities to set up an autonomous province.

Source: 130 Jewish families arrived in Buenos Aires – World Jewish Congress.

On 14 August 1889, 130 Jewish families fleeing antisemitism and persecution in the Russian Empire arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to restart their lives and begin a Jewish community. While the 824 Russian Jews were not the first Jews to arrive in Argentina, they were the first to establish a Jewish agricultural settlement in South America.

ARGENTINA WAS DISCUSSED AT THE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS

At the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, the idea was brought up.

Source: The Jewish Homeland – Rabbi Wein

[Emphasis Mine]

[Baron Hirsch] claimed that the Argentinean government acquiesced in this project and would cooperate fully in creating a Jewish autonomous state in Argentina. The representative of Baron Hirsch spoke for three and a half hours explaining the plan and pledging the resources of Baron Hirsch to its fulfillment. At midnight, after Hirsch’s representative finally finished his presentation and sat down, an old, stooped figure arose. He was Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever, the rabbi of Biyalistok and one of the founders of Chovevei Tziyon. He said: “May the Lord bless Baron Hirsch for his interest and endeavors and grant him long life and success. But we are going only to the Land of Israel.” And that statement ended the meeting.

However, the delegates at that Zionist Congress insisted on returning to the Holy Land. They would accept nothing less. The idea of a Patagonian Jewish state should have died then and there, but not among conspiracy theorists.

There is a belief among some anti-semitic South Americans, as well as among some Palestinian-Chileans, that Israel still wants to set up a Jewish state in Patagonia (both in Argentina and Chile), as a backup plan, should Israel ever fall.

In 2013, a Chilean senator, Eugenio Tuma, of Palestinian extraction, accused Israel of mapping out Southern Chile, with an eye to taking over Patagonia.

The irony is that it is NOT Jews, but rather Arabs, which have flooded into South America.

Yet, the Andinia Plan, which sounds like lunacy to American ears, can get real consideration in South American cicles. The idea may be preposterous, but people still believe it.

This has led to this:

Posted on YouTube: September 7, 2022

The documentary above is generally considered to be antisemitic in nature, yet there is a constituency in South America that still believes it.

This may be a sad commentary on human beings in general.

Even were someone antisemitic, reason alone should lead one to recognize Plan Andinia as preposterous.

November 16, 2023 – Edited: Had to get a new video for the Andinia documentary.

January 18, 2024 – Edited: Noted that this idiotic propaganda is being pushed by Iran.