Javier Milei is considered Argentina’s version of Donald Trump. He is very right wing, and very pro-Zionist. He plans to move the Argentina Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
And this election took place in the middle of the 2023 Gaza War?!
Though there are more Arabs in Argentina than Jews, but the Jewish demographic is not small (for a Latin American nation) and still very influential, while the Arab demographics in Argentina tilt to the pro-Western Lebanese Maronite (Catholic) stock. This would not have happened in Chile, where the Arab demographic tilts towards the Palestinian stock.
Iran’s influence is continuing to grow, not only in the support of Hezbollah operatives, but especially through the netcasting and broadcasting of HispanTV, which sends out Iranian propaganda to the continent. And Iran assists the dictatorial regime in Venezuela.
WASHINGTON —
Iran is striving to expand its influence in fellow U.S. adversary Venezuela, which is hosting an Iranian cultural fair this week and seeking Iranian assistance to revive the ailing Venezuelan energy industry.
Iran is troublemaking in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in this area of propaganda.
Whatever one thinks of pro-Jewish or pro-Israel lobbies in the United States, they are an antidote to some really ugly antisemitic disinformation out there. Indeed, Latin America is often drenched with anti-Israel agitprop that would not have been tolerated in the USA, until recently, which is a sad commentary on recent developments.
The anti-Israel indoctrination that America is sadly seeing now, Latin America has been drenched with for a long time.
Yet, oddly, Iran’s influence is more political than religious.
Why not religious?
Because Islam is being countered in Latin America – not by Jewish influence, as the Jewish population is usually small – but rather by a large and growing Evangelical Christian movement.
In Brazil, the population is 31% Evangelical.
In El Salvador, the population is 40% Evangelical — more than Catholics.
In Guatemala, the population is 40% Evangelical.
In Honduras, the population is 40% Evangelical.
In Chile, the population is 18% Evangelical.
In Argentina, the population is 15% Evangelical.
These Evangelicals tend to be very pro-Zionist.
So Iran’s influence is limited to the political arena, which is scary enough, though even in politics, the Evangelical church is competing successfully.
In the case of Chile and Brazil, the growing Evangelical power base has not stopped the governments from criticizing Israel, but it will prevent some of the Latin governments from going too far.
In one nation, Guatemala, the Evangelicals have made the country very friendly to Israel.
Posted on YouTube: February 18, 2022
El Salvador is particularly interesting, as it has an influential Palestinian (chiefly Christian) minority population. The Palestinian Christians tend to be more Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, though.
Bolivia has cut off ties with Israel, while Colombia and Chile have recalled ambassadors. Pro-Palestinianism is MUCH stronger in Latin America than in the USA.
SANTIAGO, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Chile’s Palestinian community, the largest outside the Middle East, is a strong force in the Andean nation, involved in local politics, culture and soccer. Now it’s making Chile one of the loudest regional voices criticizing Israel over its military action in Gaza.
Chile’s President Gabriel Boric, a moderate figure in the Latin American left, recalled the country’s ambassador in Tel Aviv last week and said Israel was not abiding by international law.
On a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Boric added that the Israeli military operation “at this stage acts as a collective punishment to the civilian population in Gaza.” He brought up the issue with President Joe Biden during a bilateral meeting last Thursday in Washington.
The article does not go into full depth that the vast majority of Palestinians in Chile are Christians, who fled Ottoman Islamic rule. They seem to have forgotten that aspect of their ancestor’s lives and identity with a halcyon past of religious tolerance in the Holy Land that never existed.
Many of these Palestinian Chileans (Chilestinos) are multi-generational Chilean and intermarried.
But it does note their influence. Chile did pull its ambassador out of Israel.
While Europe and the USA are strongly in favor of Israel, Latin America is mixed.
Source: (CNN Spanish) — Through their accounts on X, formerly Twitter, the foreign ministries of Colombia, Argentina and Chile condemned the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in northern Gaza.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry offered humanitarian aid to the population affected by the conflict through the Argentine Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance, the White Helmets.
“Colombia joins the urgent call of the different United Nations Organizations (WHO, Unicef), since it considers necessary the protection of civilians in the midst of the conflict, as well as respect for international humanitarian law, which establishes that the attention of health must be actively protected and never be an objective,” the Colombian Foreign Ministry detailed in a statement.
A rocket has landed on Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza. Both sides are blaming the other.
What is clear is that, at the time of this story, the culprit for the attack has not been 100% verified yet.
October 23, 2023 — Edited. Updates seem to show that Israel was not guilty, but that the rocket was from Gaza, and disintegrated over the hospital.
