NOTE: The Federación Palestina de Chile now calls itself the Comunidad Palestina de Chile
Chile’s Palestinian population punches well above its weight. Though only roughly 3% of the population, they seem to have a lock on Chile’s government policies concerning the Mideast.
Numbers can vary, but Palestinian-Chileans are about 500,000 in number, the largest Palestinian population outside the Mideast. This would include people who have intermarried with other ethnic groups. Amazingly, almost all of them are Christian.
This Palestinian-Chilean community has a long history of being opposed to Israel.
In 1947, the Chilean government was agreeable to voting for the partition of Palestine – thus creating a Jewish state. However, the Palestinian community, even at that early date, was able to get the Chilean government to change course and abstain on the UN vote. A noted Chilean UN delegate, Humberto Alvarez (Spanish), resigned in protest over the government’s concession in the matter.
Source: Jewish Virtual Library – Chile Virtual History Tour
In spite of his past record of goodwill toward Jewish aspirations, as president Videla gave in to the internal pressure of the Arab community (100,000 citizens of Arab descent lived in Chile at that time and were known for their financial and political influence) and instructed his delegation to the UN General Assembly to abstain from voting on the resolution to partition Palestine in 1947. Senator Humberto Alvarez, second-ranking member of this delegation, resigned in protest against that decision.
Right now, at this time (September 2020), the Chilean senate passed a resolution recommending that the conservative President Sebastián Piñera consider enacting Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli products from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) – probably against the President’s wishes.
BDS is considered quasi-illegal in much of the United States. Chile’s politicians are acting 180% opposite to what would happen in the USA.
Posted on YouTube: July 9, 2020
So it should not surprise us that Chilean Jews – and the world Jewish community as well – are furious with Chile’s government.
Source: Aurora (Israel)
[Translated by app]
September 2, 2020The Palestinian Federation of Chile at the service of terrorism
The Palestinian Federation of Chile is at the service of terrorism. That simple
To the innumerable number of publications made in the accounts of the Palestinian Federation of Chile where they justify Hamas terrorism and refuse to point out it as the true culprit of the situation in Gaza, there is now the publication of an opinion article that “whitewashes ”Openly to the Hezbollah terrorist movement.
The article affirms that Hezbollah is “a resistance movement”, ignoring the terrorist activities of the organization financed by Iran (as admitted by its own leader Hassan Nasrallah): from the launching of thousands of rockets against Israel, to terrorist attacks in Europe and Latin America, through participation in the bloody massacre of the Assad regime against the Syrian population.
…
The fight against antisemitism in Chile is urgent, important and cannot be postponed.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Federation of Chile as an organization, and the members of the Palestinian community in Chile in general, would do well to distance themselves from the toxic extremism that radicalizes the conflict and only moves away peace and coexistence. If we really want to build a future of peace, it must begin with the truth.
What has to be remembered is that Chile is now a borderline first-world nation. It has a government that is reasonably democratic. Moreover, Chile has been historically very hospitable to the Jewish community.
Chile was taking in Jewish refugees from Hitler’s Europe as late as 1940, long after other nations had stopped taking them in.
However, being democratic, it should not surprise anyone that the Palestinians in Chile exercise their franchise. They outnumber Chile’s Jews 30 to 1, and so are able to run roughshod over the Jewish community when it comes to Chile’s Mideastern policies.
One prominent Jewish Chilean has spoken about the Palestinian-Chilean community’s power …
Source: Police in Chile guard Jews after anti-Semitic attacks – JPOST
August 18, 2010The Palestinian community is to Chile what the Jewish community is to the U.S.
– Gabriel Zalisnek, then president of Chile’s Jewish Federation
As the Palestinians in Chile are overwhelmingly Christian, one could be surprised at their strong anti-Israel position, since we have been led to believe that the Palestinian cause is grounded in Islam, and one might expect that Christians would shy away from it. Even more so, many of these “Chilestinians” are descended from ancestors who fled from Turkish Muslim rule, so one would think they would be doubly shy of any Palestinian cause.
However, that is not the case.
And that bring us to the Federación Palestina de Chile [The Palestine Federation of Chile]. They have amazing clout in Chile’s politics – almost similar to AIPAC in the United States, and they can make or break Chilean politicians.
To the horror of the Jewish community, the Palestine Federation of Chile glamorizes Palestinian resistance to Israel, and thereby glamorizes Hamas and Hezbollah. And this resistance to Israel has spilled over into thinly veiled threats against Chile’s Jewish community for their support of Israel.
Posted on YouTube: June 23, 2015
On the Federación Palestina de Chile YouTube Channel
From the point of view of the Federación Palestina, the Israelis do not want “peace and coexistence,” as the author in the cited Aurora article (above) claims. They see the Israelis as really wanting victory over Palestine and suppression of Palestinian national aims.
There is a degree of truth to that. When opposing sides, in any conflict, claim the same area, one side or the other will have to win. I wish the Israelis were more honest about their goals.
The situation in the Mideast is presently a zero sum game. If Israel wins, then necessarily the Palestinians will lose. There is no way around this.
Given all of this, I find it amazing that the world Jewish community is shocked that Palestinian-Christians act out of accord with Israeli wishes. Did they expect the Palestinian-Chileans to be sturdy Zionists?!
However, the Palestinian cause is intimately connected to Islamic radicalism and that cannot be denied. So it does not have my sympathies. I have to sympathize with Israel.
Ultimately, I tend to agree with the viewpoint of the translated article by the Jewish author, Gabriel Chocron.
While, I understand that the Palestinians in Chile are proud of their ancestry, they have forgotten the persecution that they suffered under Islam, and they seem willing to affiliate with some rather unsavory groups.
NOTE: Though the Aurora webpage is in Spanish, the site seems to be Israeli.
September 4, 2020 – Edited and added text. Added a video.
May 5, 2021 – Added more information about the 1947 UN Partition vote.
February 23,2024 – Note the name change to Comunidad Palestina de Chile