In practice, Venezuelan support for Palestine may not amount to much, but the government of Venezuela has been supporting the Palestinian cause for a long time, since the administration of Hugo Chavez.
This continues with President Maduro. However, inasmuch as Venezuela is a leftist dictatorship, the official show of support may not be anything but a facade. It may not reflect the will of the people.
What the policy does do is ingratiate Venezuela with Iran, which is problematic. It introduces Iranian influence into Latin America.
In an outpouring of international solidarity, thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas, joining the global call for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict raging in the Gaza Strip. These demonstrations are part of a significant global response to the escalating situation in the Middle East.
About 1.6 million Venezualans have Arab ancestry – around 6% of the total population – which does not mean that these Arabs necessarily support the Palestinian cause. Many are of Lebanese and Syrian descent (mostly Christian) which means they may be neutral when it comes to Hamas/Islamic sympathies.
Posted on YouTube: February 6, 2022
(A taste of Arab food in Venezuela)
Posted on YouTube: October 12, 2023
This video can be auto-translated.
A German news site, Deutsche Welle, examines Brazil’s stand on the Gaza War.
The video above gives a good, short history of Brazil’s relationship with Israel.
Like the United States, Brazil is very divided.
The government is presently run by a center-left president (Lulu), who would probably lean to a more pro-Palestinian position. However, 31% of the population is Evangelical Christian and they swing Zionist.
The former president, Bolsonaro, was very pro-Israel, and got baptized into the Evangelical church in the Jordan River.
Bolsonaro, was raised Catholic and baptized in the Jordan River by an evangelical pastor during a visit to Israel prior to his 2018 election, as part of a broader effort to boost his appeal among the key religious bloc.
Chilestino is a Spanish term meaning Chilean of Palestinian ancestry.
Backgrounder:
Chilestinos are descendants of Christian Palestinians who started moving to Chile in the late 19th century. At that time, they were often fleeing to avoid having their sons being drafted into a Muslim controlled Ottoman Army. Later waves came, some due to Jewish-Arab fighting.
The vast majority are Christian, and most are now intermarried with other ethnic groups, but are presently re-discovering their Arab roots.
However, what they remember is a Palestinian “paradise” that no longer exists, and they seem to forget that Islamic persecution is what drove some of their ancestors to Chile.
They tend to see the Israel-Palestine conflict in purely national terms, devoid of religious animosities.
They ignore the Islamic aspect of the struggle, an Islamic aspect that once persecuted their own Christian ancestors. The ignore that, were the Palestine side to win, the Christians left in the Holy Land would not fare well.
They are very anti-Israel, but are a rich and powerful community, which can hijack Chile’s foreign policy.
In many ways, the Chilestinos resemble the Jewish community in the USA which punches well above its weight in political influence — except that the Chilestinian community is anti-Israel.
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.
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[My Note: The Palestinians are closer to 500,000 in number]
This tweet (below) is from Dec 21, 2023.
Agradecemos al Presidente @GabrielBoric por su participación en la Ceremonia de Navidad y por su contante apoyo hacia el pueblo palestino. https://t.co/JqI1oIEVP9
The Palestinian Community thanked the President of Chile for his participation in a Chilestino Christmas ceremony and his constant support for the people of Palestine.
American politicians go to AIPAC. Chilean politicians bow to the Palestinian community.
These Chilestinos don’t seem to consider the probable consequences that an Islamic victory might present to any of their relatives left in the Holy Land. As noted above, the Chilestinos are sympathetic and nostalgic for a Palestinian cause that no longer exits, if it ever existed at all.
Here in Santiago, 8,000 miles from Gaza, Palestine’s cause and culture burn brightly: Chile is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, numbering as many as 500,000 people.
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“I would love to say that the support is born from an innate sympathy for human suffering,” said Dalal Marzuca, 28, a third-generation Chilean Palestinian. “But I think it’s more likely that everyone here just has a friend, colleague or classmate with Palestinian heritage.”
Marzuca works at a Palestinian coffee shop in the city centre where – between brewing thick dark coffee and serving up sticky, sweet knafeh – she follows the latest news from Gaza via WhatsApp and Instagram.
“Being Chilean Palestinian is unique,” said Marzuca. “I’m not entirely one nor the other, but I know how much what happens in Gaza is affecting me.”
Earlier this month, Marzuca was one of thousands of people who marched beneath a sea of Palestinian flags towards La Moneda, the presidential palace in Santiago, as the diaspora lent its considerable voice to the global clamour for a ceasefire.
Most were Orthodox Christians from Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, and by the second generation, many were already integrated into Catholic churches.
The Chilestinos imagine the Palestine of their ancestors to have been a halcyon land, forgetting the very real persecutions that their own Christian ancestors had suffered under Muslim rule.
This is an incredible thing to watch. How can they be so deluded?
Yet, when it comes to Mideast policy, the Chilestinos seem to steer Chile’s ship of state.
3) Click – for a second time – to turn on: Subtitles/CC(1) Spanish (auto-generated) .
4) Click auto-translate.
5) Choose English – THIS CAN BE TRICKY – I suggest using up and down arrows to chose English, and then press Enter.
This can be very touchy, and you may have to play with it, but it works. Once you get the hang of it, you can turn the option on in a few seconds.
Chile has a large Palestinian community — which will assert its own view — during this war. However, even the Chilean government, which is often anti-Israeli in its official positions, has rebuked the Hamas attack on civilians in Israel this October. It was a strong condemnation.
Nuestra solidaridad está y estará siempre con la víctimas de la violencia, sin distinción. Nos duele la humanidad.
Condenamos sin matiz alguno los brutales atentados, asesinatos y secuestros de Hamas. Nada puede justificarlos ni relativizar su más enérgico rechazo. Condenamos…
SAO PAULO: Living in countries whose presidents have expressed pro-Palestinian views, Palestinian communities in Chile, Brazil and Argentina have expressed disappointment with statements issued by these countries’ governments concerning the fighting between Hamas and Israel.
Most Latin American nations released statements condemning Saturday’s attack on Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
The exceptions were Venezuela, which demanded that Israel immediately halt the occupation of Palestinian territories, and Bolivia, which said it is following developments with concern and accused the UN of inaction.
In Colombia, the Foreign Ministry released a statement condemning violence against civilians and asking both parties to hold dialogue on a two-state solution.
…
Palestinian-born Nicola Hadwa, a prominent Middle East analyst, told Arab News that Palestinians in Chile feel “betrayed,” adding: “That kind of declaration comes from political leaders who are subordinated to the US and Israel.”
Hadwa, who also worked as a football manager and was the first professional coach of the Palestinian national team in 2002, said: “Every day, the Israelis kill two or three young Palestinians and nobody talks about it in the media. When Palestine reacts, suddenly everybody is concerned.”
Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s administration seems to be coming under pressure from both sides.
However, with a large demographic of Arabs in South America – even if most are Christian – there is some small degree of sympathy for the Palestinian side, particularly among the demographic of Palestinians in Latin America.
Thankfully, this time, the governments are acting rationally in spite of this pressure from pro-Palestinians.
Remember, the Arab demographic in Latin America may be large, but it is NOT monolithic.
