Posted on YouTube: March 20, 2016
The video can be auto-translated into English
The video above is from the Syrian-Lebanese Club of Buenos Aires. If you speak Spanish, or know how to use a translation app, then visit their website. They have one club in Saavedra, in the northern section of Buenos Aires, and another in the suburb of Recoleta.
Unlike Chile, where the Palestinians predominate, in Argentina, Syrians and Lebanese predominate. This makes for a more muted response to the Mideast situation. The Maronite Christians, in particular, are very Westernized, and – given their history – are suspicious of Muslims, as they have been persecuted by Muslims.
It is estimated that 9-10% of the population of Argentina is Arabic in ancestry – though a lot of that may be diluted by intermarriage. What is clear is that 90% of those Arab-Argentines are Christian, and that official figures for Muslims may be seriously exaggerated.
Also moderating the tone of the debate is the Jewish community in Argentina which is quite substantial – 180,000, and it used to be a whole lot larger. Argentina has the sixth largest population of Jews outside of Israel.
Posted on YouTube: June 6, 2018
(Clearly, this guy is not Jewish,
but – like me – he finds stuff like this fascinating.
If one counts extended relatives of Jews or those who are Jewish by father only – and not officially Jewish – then the numbers are much larger.
The Jews have had a substantial effect on Argentine history. So one will not see the strong pro-Palestinianism that one sees in Chile, where Palestinians outnumber the Jews 30 to 1.
Posted on YouTube: October 14, 2019
(obviously concerning Christmas)
The Closing Line says: THIS CHRISTMAS WE DO NOT FORGET THE CHILDREN OF BETHLEHEM
Note: the opening seconds of the video look like they were taken from the destruction in Syria, not Bethlehem. If so, the pro-Palestinian video is grossly dishonest.
The two videos on this post come from the Federación Palestina de Chile, which is extraordinarily anti-Israel. Take that into account.
I am not saying our American media lies about the Mideast. From what I have noticed, it could be argued that much of the rest of the world gets a slanted view – slanted to the opposite side of what we see in the USA.
HOWEVER, most Americans do not know what the rest of the world sees, particularly in Latin America. I offer these videos on this website as an example.
In Chile and Honduras – where Palestinians are the most influential Arabic communities – the hostility to Israel is palpable, with political clout. In those countries where the Maronite (Lebanese) Christians are the most influential Arab community, the sentiment is muted.
What is amazing is that almost all of these Palestinian-Latin-Americans hold an idealized, fantasy version of how wonderful Palestine was to their ancestors when the Arabs ruled. Were that so, their ancestors would not have fled to Latin America – and fled they did.
The Muslims treated Christians like dhimmis, and often went on genocidal campaigns against Christians.
But this is what fuels much of the public opinion in Latin America, an idealized, fantasy memory of Palestine.
For example, this video supports BDS against Israel. It opens with the line: SUPPORT FOR BDS IS GROWING IN THE WORLD.
Posted on YouTube: January 2, 2018
I am not asking you to agree with these anti-Israel views. I do not.
But you should be aware of them. It is a whole other world out there in Latin America.
An amazing video. Generally true … but … though incredible …
the author underestimates the numbers of Arabs in Latin America. This is because many Lebanese Christians will not identify as Arabs, and often assimilate so rapidly that they lose any ethnic identification.
He also overestimated the numbers of Muslims in Latin America which, though growing, is still relatively small as a percentage.
WHAT HE DOES GET RIGHT – AND MAGIFICENTLY SO – IS THAT THE LEBANESE CHRISTIANS WERE WESTWARD LOOKING AND EAGER TO ASSIMILATE.
There is a demographic issue when accounting for the Arabs in Latin America. For an example: Look at this inconsistency for Colombia (image below).
Screenshots of Wikipedia.
Wikipedia estimated about 800,000 – 3.2 million Lebanese Colombians, out of approximately 50 million people in Colombia. Take a moment to let that enormous spread in estimated numbers sink in.
Now look at the second image. Notice that the Arab diaspora in Columbia is listed at 1.5 million.
Did you notice the contradiction? Lebanese-Colombians could be as high as 3.2 million, but another chart lists only 1.5 million Arab-Colombians.
How can there be more Lebanese-Columbians than Arab-Columbians, when the Lebanese are a subset of Arabs?
This is what makes checking the demographics of Arabs in the Western Hemisphere so hard. As is so often stated, the problem is that many Lebanese refuse to call themselves Arabs.
The number of Arabs in South America is much higher than official figures cite.
Similar inconsistencies crop up in Argentina and the United States. In Australia, the Lebanese do not even have to list their ancestry as Arab, but can cite Syriac (which is a language group, not necessarily Syrian) instead.
I suspect elsewhere as well.
The demographic contradictions stem from the reluctance of Lebanese Christians to identify as Arabs.
Lebanese Christians were horribly persecuted by the Muslims. In the nineteenth century, the French had to intervene in Lebanon to prevent a genocide of Christians by the Muslims. Many Lebanese Christians prefer to call themselves Phoenicians, by virtue of their ancient Phoenician past. Some will get rather indignant if you call them Arabs.
This has led to the odd situation where Lebanese are often considered completely different than Arabs.
Yet, upon arrival in any country, Lebanese Christians speak Arabic, eat Arabic food, and listen to Arabic music. The international community considers them Arabs.
Most of the Lebanese who immigrated to the West were from the Christian community. Muslims were less likely to leave. And, given that Maronite Christianity is affiliated with Roman Catholicism – the dominant religion in Latin America – Lebanese Maronites could seamlessly blend into Catholic communities in one generation. The first generation of kids would be indistinguishable from other Latins.
Complicating the matter, Lebanese Christians, primarily the Maronite Christians, have a portion of European DNA, as a result of their ancestors having intermarried with Europeans Crusaders. In plain terms, they are sometimes slightly whiter than other Arabs, and can often pass for Europeans. In Latin America, whites are often the elite, and Maronites would have had that advantage.
Muslims did immigrate to Latin America, but in smaller numbers, and often decades later, long after the Maronites blended in.
Mixing things up further, Muslim Lebanese certainly consider themselves to be Arabs. So ironically the Muslim-Lebanese would classify themselves as Arabs – in contravention to the Christians – primarily the Maronite Christians – who consider themselves to be Phoenician, not Arabic.
Historically, the Lebanese Christians, who refuse to identify as Arabs, were also determined to blend in, assimilate, and intermarry rather rapidly. So if they are under-reported, it is because they assimilated so well. The Lebanese Christians are a large almost invisible community.
The migration of Lebanese Christians to the Americas was rather large, and the result is that glaring inconsistencies in demographics can occur. Hence the number of Arabs in any country in the Western Hemisphere is grossly under-reported.
Thankfully, this is not a problem for anyone, but demographers.
Take for example: Julio César Turbay. He was the 25th president of Colombia, and was half-Lebanese. The product of assimilation and intermarriage.
This curiosity has to be noted.
February 3, 2018 – Edited: Grammatical error. July 17, 2020 – Edited: Added image. Added and edited text.
