This is a few months old, and frankly, it is a bit of grandstanding, but I just found it, and thought it was worth mentioning.
Rightly or wrongly, Palestine is now being destroyed, even as we speak. Like it or not, that is fact. Yet, Lula of Brazil wants a FREE TRADE agreement with the Palestinians?
BRASILIA – Brazil has put into effect a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority that has been waiting for ratification for more than decade, in a show of support for the Palestinian people.
“The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbours,” Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said on July 9 in a statement.
…
Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Mr Ibrahim Al Zeben, called Brazil’s decision “courageous, supportive and timely”.
One may hold the very erroneous idea that the Arabs in Latin America have a unified culture and presence.
Dispense with that idiocy right now.
The most outstanding group in this mix are the Maronites of Lebanon.
The Maronites of Lebanon are a group of Christian Arabs who are members of the Maronite Church – which is affiliated with Roman Catholicism – though the Maronite Church allows married men to become priests. The Maronites do not even consider themselves to be Arab.
As the Canadian-American scholar, T.B. Irving, noted:
[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”.
They Maronites feel this way, even though the Maronites in Lebanon speak Arabic, and live in an Arab culture. This attitude is a product of centuries of persecution at the hands of Muslims. Sadly, the Maronites were nearly genocided in the 19th century at the hands or rampaging Muslims, and many Maronites have a distrust of Islam.
Rather, the Maronites of Lebanon consider themselves to be the descendants of ancient Phoenicians, and will identity themselves as such.
If you know your history, the ancient Phoenicians sailed west and planted colonies in Sicily, Spain, North Africa, Corsica, Sardinia, and and possibly the British Isles.
In simple terms, the Phoenicians always looked westward, and the Maronites, likewise, looked to Europe for their inspiration, not the Arab world. The other Arabs considered the Maronites as a fifth column in their ranks. The Maronites may have seen themselves as Western-looking Phoenicians, but the Muslims in Lebanon saw themselves as Arab. This became a point of hostility between the two groups.
Today, the vast majority of Lebanese Maronites live in the Western Hemisphere. They affiliate with (Western) Roman Catholicism, not the Eastern Orthodox nor the Syrian Christian faiths.
Given that Roman Catholicism is a Western denomination, and that many Maronites have a degree of European (Roman, Greek, etc.) ancestry, the Maronites could pass for Latin whites, and could blend in almost seamlessly in South America.
This article (Click Here) vastly underestimates their numbers, but even so, they are clearly a large demographic everywhere.
The Maronites who remained in Lebanon were never really anti-Israel. In fact, some Lebanese Maronite leaders favored Zionism, as they thought it might be an ally against Islam. For those who know the bible, King Hiram of Tyre (in modern day Lebanon) was a friend of David.
Today, if Lebanon and Israel always seem on the verge of war, it is because the demographic of Muslims soon overtook the Christians. The Maronites were not happy with that development.
A subsequent civil war in Lebanon caused many more Maronites to flee.
And almost everywhere, many of the Maronites prefer to label themselves as Phoenician, and will often distance themselves from Arab causes.
This can play havoc with demographers. With lots of Maronites refusing to consider themselves Arabs, millions of Latin-Arabs are not counted.
Where the Maronites are the majority subset of Arabs in Latin America countries – or even roughly half – they tend to moderate anti-Zionist extremism among the Arab ethnics.
Brazil and Argentina have large Maronite populations, and they tend to be friendly to Israel. Do not let the present president of Brazil, Lula, fool you. He does NOT reflect the opinion of most Brazilians regarding Israel. Most Brazilians are pro-Israel.
How could it be otherwise? Brazil is one-third Evangelical Christian, who tend to have Christian Zionist viewpoints.
Where the Palestinians are the majority subset of Arabs, they can skew the foreign policy of Latin nations. Chile is an example. The very prosperous Palestinians have turned Chile’s government policies to a status that is cold toward to Israel. Below is an example.
Recalling ambassador, Chile’s president accuses Israel of ‘unacceptable’ rights violations in Gaza
Chile announces its recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations, accusing the Jewish state of “unacceptable” human rights violations in the war against the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group.
The only antidote to anti-Zionism among the Latin Arabs is either a large demographic of Maronites, or a growing Evangelical demographic in the host nation.
Guatemala is noted for this. It has a noticeable Palestinian population (1% of the nation); however, 40% of the general population is Evangelical.
Posted on YouTube: February 18, 2022
What is clear is that the Arabs do not present a unified face in Latin America. And it is foolish to think so.
The Maronites barely consider themselves Arab.
And Evangelicalism can overrule even hostile tendencies in other Arab groups.
The top two channels IRIB [the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting] uses for promoting anti-Jewish hate globally are the English-language PressTV, established in 2007, and its Spanish-language twin HispanTV, established in 2011. A joint ADL and Center for Countering Digital Hate report issued in April 2023, titled “State Hate: How Iran’s Press TV Uses Social Media to Promote Anti-Jewish Hatred,” exposed PressTV as a “foreign state hate operation” that targets “Jewish people with antisemitic tropes,” and attacks “charities, schools, journalists, academics, and individuals by promoting the conspiracy that they are part of a coordinated ‘Zionist movement.’”
We here at Latin Arabia have noted the pernicious influence of HispanTV on South American culture for over a decade, now. Do a search for HispanTV on our site – we didn’t always tag it.
No doubt, HispanTV strikes a chord with some Arab-Latins.
A primer post, here on Latin Arabia, from 2013, deals with this insidious network, and can be found here.
HispanTV (and its English equivalent, PressTV) have faced bans in Europe.
But HispanTV is powerful and well known in Latin America. A Major Chilean Politician: Daniel Jadue (of Christian Palestinian ancestry) – a former presidential candidate – has had a series on HispanTV.
Posted on YouTube: June 24, 2021
From Turkish TV
Daniel Jadue’s television series (below):
The playlist was posted on YouTube: Around 2024
On HispanTV
(It can be auto-translated)
HispanTV has been thrown off of many platforms, but seems to always re-emerge.
The thing here is not to panic.
In countries where the major Arab demographic is Maronite Lebanese (such as Brazil), the political effects of the Arab communities can be neutral. Maronite Lebanese were historically hostile to Islam. Some were even friendly to Zionism.
Maronites tend to be Western in outlook, and they have assimilated easier and more successfully than other Arabs. Where the Maronite demographic is large among Arab communities, they will dampen anti-Zionism.
But in countries with large and influential Palestinian communities (such as Chile), all havoc can break loose.
The Palestinians are highly successful in Chile, and have out-sized influenced. They have distorted Chile’s foreign policy. Even Chile’s otherwise conservative politicians pander to them.
This is the audience that HispanTV would attract. While such an audience is indeed worrisome, it also has to be remembered that Evangelical Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds in Latin America.
HispanTV is annoying, but it will be drowned out by Christianity.
It’s effects on politics have to be watched though.
About one-third of Brazil is what we Americans would call Evangelical Christians. And when Evangelicals reach such a demographic in society, they affect politics.
Brazil’s prior president, Bolsonaro, got baptized in the Jordan River by Evangelicals.
The last election which supposedly Lulu won was supect, but one thing is clear, Brazil is as much, if not more so, pro-Israel than America.
Over 80% of Brazilians take issue with Lula’s anti-Israel comment
Herb Keinon
February 23, 2024
[T]the Brazilian public is not following its leader [Lulu].
A CNN Brasil poll on Monday found that eight of 10 Brazilians – or 83% of those polled – took issue with Lula’s comparison. [Note: Lulu’s anti-Israel comment]
This dovetails with what one senior diplomatic official said in Jerusalem: “There is a gap in Brazil between the government and the public, with the public more supportive of Israel than the government, and this shows up in polls and in parliamentary debates.”
The CNN Brasil poll, for instance, found that 57% of the 800 respondents thought that Israel is on the right side in this conflict, while 28% sided with Hamas. Additionally, 26% said that Brazil should support Israel in this war, another 14% said the Palestinians, while 54% said the country should stay neutral – something Lula’s government is not doing. In the first two months after the war, support for Israel, as evident in various polls, was running at between 70% and 80%.
The power of Evangelicalism in Brazil is increasing.
Posted on YouTube: May 29, 2024
Brazil is having an Evangelical explosion, and it is very pro-Zionist. You will not hear this on the regular media.
