Maronites

Mexico Has a Jewish President

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Mexico Has a Jewish President


Posted on YouTube: November 1, 2024

In October of 2024, a Jewish woman was sworn in as the President of Mexico. But do not think that the Jewish community in Mexico is thrilled about her.

Source: Why Mexico’s center-right Jewish community didn’t vote for its first Jewish president
Times of Israel
bu Ariela Lopez
June 5, 2024

…

After Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo emerged victorious in Sunday’s election to become Mexico’s first female president-elect, many focused on a second milestone – the scientist-turned-politician will be Mexico’s first Jewish president.

But, according to members of Mexico City’s Jewish community who spoke to The Times of Israel after her win, the president-elect has distanced herself from them, and her triumph does not engender much excitement among her fellow Jews.

“I think that the main issue in the election, even for the Jewish community, was not her Jewishness, but her political views,” Daniel Fainstein, the dean of Jewish Studies at the Hebraica University in Mexico City, told The Times of Israel.

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(Read More)

However, rather than being a strong supporter of Israel, President Sheinbaum pursues a more neutral policy. Her administration will probably not change Mexico’s policies towards the Mideast.

At this point, when the Israeli government has no intention of ever granting independence to the Palestinians (rightly or wrongly), Mexico’s position is not exactly welcome to pro-Israeli advocates. (This is merely an observation, not a critique.)

Source: Mexico calls for recognition of Palestinian state amid war
by Jerusalem Post Staff
Uodated October 12, 2024

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has called for the recognition of the state of Palestine alongside Israel, reaffirming her country’s longstanding position on the matter.

In a statement on Saturday, reported by Revista Proceso, she declared, “We condemn the aggressions that are being experienced and also consider that the state of Palestine must be recognized in its entirety just like the State of Israel. This has been Mexico’s position for many years, and that is the position we have. We search for peace above all.”

…

Sheinbaum, known for her leftist political stance and European Jewish ancestry, has declared her atheism, as reported by Sky News Arabia. She has a history of criticizing Israeli actions in Gaza, including a public letter in January 2009 where she criticized a previous Israeli operation in the coastal enclave.

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(Read More)

The Latin Countries With The Most Arabs

Latin Arabia History, Lebanese, Maronites, Religion , , 0 Comment
The Latin Countries With The Most Arabs


THE TEN MOST ARAB COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA
Posted on YouTube: October 14, 2020

The video above can be auto-translated.

This is their list which seems to be ordered by population. Were one to go by percentages, Argentina would have the largest population by percentage.

10) Uruguay
9) El Salvador
8) Paraguay
7) Honduras
6) Chile
5) Mexico
4) Columbia
3) Venezuela
2) Argentina
1) Brazil

One has to remember that most of the Arabs who came to the New World were usually Christian, and quite often were fleeing Islamic persecutions.

These Christian Arabs erroneously get lumped together with Muslims, but this is a demographic and historical mistake. Unfortunately, it is a mistake that some Arab-Latin populations make themselves.

For example: The Chilestinos (Chileans of Palestinian descent) are almost always Christian, yet they identity with the Islamic cause of Palestinian liberation. They even embrace Islamic symbolism.


A POSTER by Chilestinos advertising a trip to the Holy Land
(But why did the photo focus on the Dome of the Rock: a Muslim
site, if the Chilestinos are Christian?)

Lucky, in many Latin-American countries the largest or second largest subgroup of Arabs are the descendants of Lebanese Maronites. Maronite Christianity affiliates with Roman Catholicism, and they historically have considered themselves closest to the West. They make sure to distinguish themselves from Muslims.

The Maronite-Latins remember the persecutions their ancestors suffered in Lebanon from Muslims, most recently from the PLO during the Lebanese Civil War. Some even refuse to call themselves Arabs, preferring to invoke their Phoenician ancestry.

As the Canadian-American scholar, T.B. Irving, noted:

Source Islamic Renewal in Iberia and Latin America: Its Needs and Preconditions T.B. Irving 1981
a lecture delivered at the University of Brasilia

[T]he Christian Lebanese immigrants to South America… owe much to their over‑all Arab heritage, even though many of them try to call themselves “Phoenicians”.

There are roughly ten times as many Maronites in the Americas as there is in Lebanon itself, and they remember who drove them out: the Muslims.

The Maronites in Latin America usually vary from neutral to some even being Zionist in their opinions. They can moderate the power of the anti-Israel Arabs.

However, in Chile, the Chilestinos (Palestinian-Chileans), who are Christian, are powerful, rich, influential, and the largest of the Arab subgroups. Hence, the Chilestinos distort Chile’s foreign policies.

In Honduras and El Salvador, there are also Palestinians, but those are countered by a massive Evangelical revival in those countries.

Muslims in Mexico?

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Muslims in Mexico?

I have my suspicions regarding this video below.


Posted on YouTube: February 20, 2023
(The video can be auto-translated)

According to Wikipedia, Mexico is less than 1/10th of 1% Muslim.

Source: Islam in Mexico

Mexico is a predominantly Christian country, with adherents of Islam representing a small minority. Due to the secular nature of the state established by Mexico’s constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. The country has a population of around 126 million as of 2020 census and according to the Pew Research Center, the Muslim population was 60,000 in 1980, 111,000 in 2010, and is predicted to be 126,000 in 2030; however, according to the 2010 National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) census, there were only 2,500 individuals who identified Islam as their religion. Most Muslims are foreign nationals and the majority are Sunni.

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(Read More)

Notice that the official numbers were much lower than the claimed numbers. Most of the Muslims were foreign nationals.

Yet, Mexico may have over a million Lebanese (almost all of whom are Christian),

What we see here is the all too common phenomena of Muslims exaggerating their numbers. Those few Muslims in Mexico may be temporary converts who will become Evangelical or revert to Catholicism in the following year. Mexico, like much of Latin America is in the midst of an Evangelical Revival. Evangelicals may not be growing as rapidly in Mexico as in the other Latin American countries, but they are still growing.

The thing to remember is that, while the Muslim population in Mexico is miniscule, the Arab-Mexican (Christian) population is very large, in the millions. And the Arab-Mexican Christians are significant. Think of Carlos Slim and Salma Hayek. Getting figures for them is unreliable, however, because a lot of them have moved to the United States.

In the case of Islam, practically speaking, Mexico has almost no Muslims. There are exceptions.

More Lebanese in Brazil than Lebanon

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More Lebanese in Brazil than Lebanon


Posted on YouTube: 2022

There are more Lebanese in Brazil than Lebanon.

The video (above) lists the reasons for the massive immigration to Lebanon as economic and political instability.

What the video does not explain is that the instability was caused by the ongoing Islamic attempts at genocides of the Christians — which have been periodically happening for centuries in Lebanon and Syria.

Hence the vast majority of these Arab immigrants were Christians fleeing Muslim persecution which, at times, rose to genocidal levels.

However, the video (above) does get correct how massive and influential the Lebanese are in Brazil.

The video estimates 12 million Lebanese in Brazil, which is roughly in accord with my own estimates. However, I estimated 12-15 million for all Arabs, while this video estimates 12 million for the Lebanese alone in Brazil.

Add in the Syrian-Lebanese and you can see how massive the Arabs are in Brazil … and they are prosperous.

My estimates of Arabs in Brazil might even be low.

Again, almost all the Lebanese in Brazil are Christians.


Posted on YouTube: 2023
This is from an Israeli channel, but the facts are there.

The upshot of this is that Lebanese Christians in Latin America usually do not subscribe to the raw hatred of Israel which is more common among Palestinian-Christian-Chileans (or Hondurans).

The Lebanese-Christian-Brazilians remember the brutality of the Muslims. Their views on Israel vary from friendly to not thrilled, but they have no illusions about Islam.

Hence, wherever the Lebanese Arabs predominate among Arab-Latins — and they predominate in many Latin countries – they then to moderate the discussion.

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