Propaganda

Questionable Charities

Latin Arabia Business, Other, Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation, Palestinians, Propaganda, Thought of the Day 0 Comment
Questionable Charities

Note: This charity is probably best translated as the Palestine-Bethlehem Foundation 2000. However the website URL translates to Bethlehem 2000 Foundation. Spanish often puts the adjectives after the noun; and in this case, it is a wacky combination which is awkward to translate.

fundacion_belen_2000

The Fundación Palestina Belen 2000 [Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation1] (Click Here) is a major Palestinian-Chilean charity organization which claims to help the Palestinians in the contested areas.

They appeal to the ethnically strong Palestinian-Chilean community, which forms a rich elite. Though Palestinians are only 3% of Chile’s population, yet they are 10% of the Chilean Senate. Their political clout is enormous.

Even though many Chilean-Palestinians are intermarried with non-Arabs and are 3rd-5th generation Chilean, they have recently started to re-discover their Arab roots, even as American Jews are re-discovering their Hebrew roots.

Not just Palestinian-Chileans,  nor Chileans in general; but also English speakers are also encouraged to donate to the Palestine-Bethlehem Foundation 2000.   The site is both in English and Spanish.


The reason the translation is so good is because someone else did it.
At (1:42) Diego Villegas admits he is part Palestinian

The Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation especially emphasizes the Christian character of their charity. After all, 99%+ of Palestinian-Chileans are Christian.  Their  website shows wonderful crosses, and smiling kids. They do wonderful things like send medical teams to Palestine. Naturally, one would expect them to support the Gospel.

Almost all English speakers who come to the site would be Christian. Or would they?

According to this web source, this Christian (?!) charity may not be as Christ-centered as it claims.

The Media Line

According to official sources, the stated aim of the foundation (translated as “Palestine-Bethlehem 2000”) is to provide “scholarships, medical and economic aid to the Palestinian Authority.” Yet, a Chilean government source described the organization to The Media Line (TML) as a lobby. The Anti-Semitism and Racism Institute claims that this foundation is the chief fund-raising organization in Chile for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Wealthy Palestinians from the Chilean community support the fund, which publishes the monthly journal, A-Damir. In celebration of its first anniversary on June 25, 2002, the foundation organized an event, attended by more than 1,000 invitees that included ministers, Members of Parliament, clerics, army officers and judges. Minister of the Interior Jose Miguel Insulza and Government-Secretary Heraldo Muoz both posed for a photograph, wearing a kafiyah decorated with a map depicting a Palestinian state that encompassed land that today is the entire state of Israel.

A Chilean source connected to the Chilean Intelligence Agency (CIA) told TML that this particular fund managed to collect $6m in one year, but that the funds do not always find their way to needy Palestinians. Instead, much of the money goes to charities identified with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization.

I cannot tell you if this is true or not. It might be Israeli spin. On the other hand, why would the Chilean CIA pander to Israeli spin? Do they know something?

IT GETS CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER.

The Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation also publishes a glossy web magazine extolling Chilean-Arabs, called Al Damir [The Conscience/Heart].

(Click Here) to see online back issues.

al-damir
Fundación Palestina Belen 2000 / Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation’s Al Damir Magazine (SPANISH LANGUAGE) — Notice the priest, and the doctors … which appeal to Palestinians in Chile, who are Christian.

Each issue prints articles about Arab-Chilean achievement in Chile, gossip, the medical work they do in Palestine, Palestinian culture, the Arab footprint in Chilean politics, etc, even as they give a general anti-Israel spin.

This is not all about the Mideast. They might print an article about a prominent scientist or businessman in Chile who happens to be of Palestinian descent.

Now all of this, in and of itself, would come in under free speech; and there would be nothing to notice except just exactly how prosperous the Palestinians are in Chile.

Al Damir has attracted major multinationals advertisers: Coca Cola, Air Canada, Hugo Boss2, etc. You sell to people who have money. Basic Capitalism 101.

Even this would be okay …

UNLESS THE PALESTINE BETHLEHEM 2000 FOUNDATION WERE FUNNELING AID TO HAMAS CHARITIES.

And, according to the Media Line quote (above), the Chilean CIA says they might be.

It could prove embarrassing.

al-damir_nov_2012_01
An ad for Coca Cola products in Al Damir magazine – issue #91, November 2012
(Click Here) to find other ads for Air Canada, Hugo Boss, Ellus Jeans, the Bank of Palestine, etc.

Could somebody please verify – one way or the other – if the Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation, and by extension: Al-Damir, has anything to do with Hamas?

This Chilean Christian (?!) charity is not a shoddy operation. It seems to be a well run and polished operation.

But it they are sending money to charities affiliated with Hamas, there could be problems. It would be frightful to think Hamas is being subsidized by multinationals, especially if they are doing it unawares.


They are advertising now. This cannot be ignored.

Their ad shows a girl dressed like a typical Christian schoolgirl in Chile. What they do not show is how many of the Palestinians schoolgirls will be forced to wear hijabs, or burqas, especially in Gaza.

If they are truly helping children in Palestine … then God Bless Them!

If they are funneling money to charities run affiliated with Hamas – as the site above has accused them of – then somebody has to intervene, if only to get the Palestine Bethlehem 200 Founation to direct its money more wisely.

1Because of the wacky way the charity is named, it may best translated as the Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation. If there are descrepancies in the video and the text, it is because it is awkwardly named.

2Hugo Boss, a German fasion house, made a good part of the fashion wear for the Nazi SS. There is a bit of scandal to their origins. They really should be circumspect in their support of the Palestinian Bethlehem 2000 Foundation, with their advertising.

An earlier version of the Palestine Bethlehem 2000 Foundation website had the geography of Palestine defined so as to deny Israel altogether.

They seem to have cleaned up their act when it became apparent that others were noticing that they were denying the right of Israel to exist. The geography page on their website is now gone.

November 25, 2017 – Edited: minor edits.
September 2, 2020 – Made page more mobile friendly.

Who is Xavier Abu Eid?

Latin Arabia Other, Propaganda 0 Comment

Well, before we address that question, that name should pop out at you.

Linguistically, it signals a propagandistic nom de plume.

Xavier is a Christian-Spanish/Basque name. The name derives from the Basque, etxe berri, which means “new home.” It was the name of one of the founders of the Jesuit Order, Francis Xavier.

This would be blantantly obvious in Chile, where 1/4 of the population is of Basque ancestry.

But Abu Eid is an Arabic name. “Eid” which means festival, and can refer to various Islamic religious festivals.

So his name Xavier Abu Eid can be interpreted as signalling:

Devout Catholic son of the Islamic feast

It is linguistically, and religously, a total contradiction. It makes no sense.

The name is clearly a pen name meant to bridge the natural reticence that most Chileans (who are Christians) would feel towards Muslim Palestinians.

So who is Xavier Abu Eid?

He is a Chilean member of the Palestinian Authority, and their spokeman to Latin America.

Below are some of his Internet Social contact sites.

 

All of this is easily locatable on the internet

His Twitter Account:
https://twitter.com/xabueid

He speaks English and Spanish.
This is old info:
Xavier Abu Eid (Mobile number: 0598 950 300) English and Spanish.

His Linkedin page
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/xavier-abu-eid/29/693/841

He seems to have lost weight and moved to Ramallah.

This guy is a member of the PA (PLO) in some capacity. He speaks English, Spanish, and probably Arabic. So he seems to be a trilingual media heavyweight.


From November, 2012

So what do we know about this Xavier Abu Eid?

1) He is Chilean

2) He is a political scientist, and advisor to the PLO, as well as one of their chief spokesmen.

3) He went to Universidad Diego Portales (Diego Portales University) in Chile.

4) He has media clout in Latin America, though he is unknown in the USA.

5) Being Chilean, he is almost certainly Christian.

6) He writes for Al-Damir, a Palestinian-Chilean Magazine, run by the Fundación Belen (Bethlehem Foundation), which also exhalts Arab-Chileans in Chilean Life. It claims to have a Christian emphasis, but some have suspected it of working with Hamas.

The Media Line

A Chilean source connected to the Chilean Intelligence Agency (CIA) told TML that this particular fund managed to collect $6m in one year, but that the funds do not always find their way to needy Palestinians. Instead, much of the money goes to charities identified with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization.

 

To be fair: Rumors probably are hurled at the Belen Foundation. Still, if – and that is a big if – the rumors are true, this supposedly Christian group is merely a facade.

What is clear is that Al-Damir is sponsored by major advertisers. Coca-Cola and Air Canada advertize in Al-Damir. So, if they are funnel money to Hamas, this really should be snuffed out soon; or some major transnationals are going to be embarrassed.

So this Xavier Abu Eid is big, even if you never heard about him.

When I first started researching on Arabs in Latin America, Mr. Abu Eid’s name popped up all over the place.

However, as I think I have shown on this website, his cause is flawed.

But since the West seems to be ignoring Latin America, Mr. Abu Eid holds a lot of sway. He merits watching.

May 3, 2021 – Edited: Corrected dead link. Added new info.
October 28, 2023 – Edited: Removed a dead video link.

Pro-Israel Rally in Argentina

Latin Arabia Other, Politics, Propaganda, Untranslated , 0 Comment


From: November 2012 during the military actions against Gaza

YouTube Comment by AssyrianPride1000

A group of Argentinians (150), followed by some Centrist and Central Right wing activists as well as some members of the Evangelical Churches came out to show their support for Israel against Hamas war crimes.

Clearly, there are more than 150 in that crowd.

The poster’s name is AssyrianPride1000, which is a reference to the persecuted Assyrian Christians.

However, he is posting in English, not Spanish which is odd; and he lists his country of origin as Iraq, which is odder.

Whether this is primarily Jewish community show of support or not is immaterial. There are roughly 200,000 Jews in Argentina, and they are the largest Jewish community in the Spanish speaking world. They used to be even higher in number, till Argentina’s economic crises drove them to Israel. Argentina’s Jews still have clout.

The comment says there are Evangelicals in the crowd. Of this, I have no doubt.

Evangelicals are not as strong in Argentina as they are in Brazil or Chile; but they are starting to grow, and change things. Already they are 10% of the population in Argentina.

I have seen very strong pro-Israel support come for the richer more elite Catholic sections of Argentina.

The Arabs have effected the culture of South America; but their Arabs are Christian primarily, and they have not changed the Christian aspect of the society. In fact, their Christianity has become Westernized in South America.

King Fahd Mosque on HispanTV

Latin Arabia HispanTV, Muslim, Opinion, Propaganda, TV , 0 Comment


HispanTV’s report on the King Fahd Mosque in Buenos Aires

The report notes that this is the place where a fusion of Islam and Latin America meet.

Iran has opened up a major televison propaganda network in the Spanish language called HispanTV. While the USA was ignoring South America, Saudi Arabia, and Iran were not.

Until the King Fahd Mosque opened, Islam was dying out in Argentina. It hovered officially between 1% and 2%, but in reality, an Argentine Acadmenic, Pedro Brieger, had shown that practicing Muslims in Argentina had whittled down to a small, and declining, number. Almost all Argentine Muslims had been non-practicing.

Source: Muslims in Argetina – Pedro Brieger

The number of Muslims in Argentina is decreasing, and this is due to several factors. Firstly, in families of Muslim origin, customs are being lost, from the Arabic language to food and drink. Secondly, there is relatively little reading material on Islam available in Spanish. There is a growing tendency toward mixed marriages in which children lose all references to Islam, and there are too few study centres for disseminating Islam. This may, however, change in the future with the construction of the new Islamic Cultural Center King Fahd, financed by the Saudi government, which includes a school and a mosque with a minaret in the heart of Buenos Aires.

But this successful effort at assimilating the Muslim immigrant came to an end around 2000.

In 1995, President Carlos Menem donated land in downton Buenos Aires so that the Saudis could build the King Fahd Mosque. Islam was given a chance to recharge itself.

Centuries of Christianizing efforts in Latin America were undone in one stroke. By 2011, the Saudi financed mosque had pressured Argentina’s Public TV to grant them an hour of public TV program time to prosyletize – weekly on Sunday mornings.

Worse yet, the time slot for the program was taken from a Christian-run secular TV show hosted by Christian Arab-Argentines, who were furious that a Muslim minority, who did not represent Argentine-Arabs, had stolen their time.

The damage is in its early stages, and it can be undone; but an attempt to undo the damage has to be made. No attempt seems forthcoming.

This is a disaster in slow motion.

We Americans have to show an interest in South America.

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