Chile

Chile is the country on the Southwest Pacific coast of South America, which runs from a polar south to tropical north. 5% of Chile’s population is Arab, and the majority of that is Palestinian-Christian: Chilestino/Chilestinian.

Chile is a first world country now, very democratic. The Chilestinos are prosperous and wield incredible political power.

MORE ON THE JEWS OF CHILE

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MORE ON THE JEWS OF CHILE


Hannukah (Janucá) lighting in front of the Moneda (Chilean Presidential Palace)
Posted on YouTube: December 27, 2024

As the readers of this site have noticed, there are a lot of posts on this site about Chile. There is a reason for this.

Chile is very unique in Latin America.

A) Chile is considered a borderline First World Country in Latin America.
B) It is an economic powerhouse.
C) It has a well respected formidable navy.
D) Except for the Pinochet/Allende area, Chile has a history of stable democracy.
E) CHILE HAS A MASSIVE PALESITINIAN POPULATION (Chilestinos), about 500,000, who are elite.

So in many ways, it is Chile where the present public relations battles are fought in Latin America.

This site has shown you what Arab-Latinos often think.

Now, let’s take a look at what the Jews of Chile think.

The chief concern of Chile’s Jewish community is the Palestinian-Chilean (Chilestino) community.

Unknown to most Westerners is that Chile has the largest amount of Palestinians outside the Mideast. They are half a million in number, but unexpectedly, almost all are Christian: Eastern Christian or Catholic. Very few are Muslim.

SIDE NOTE:

Though most Palestinians are Muslim, the former rulers of the Holy Land, the Ottoman empire, persecuted Christians. Hence, when the Palestinians started moving to Chile in the 19th century, it was the Christians who left the Holy Land, while the Muslim Palestinians remained. Christian Arabs assimilated well into Chile, and they rose rapidly. Soon they were inviting other Christian Palestinians to come to Chile.

THE RESULT IS: ALMOST ALL PALESTINIANS IN CHILE ARE CHRISTIAN.

Yet, though the Chilestinos are Christians, they still have very strong anti-Israel sympathies.

Unlike America, where AIPAC has a powerful influence, in Chile, the Jewish community is relatively weak in numbers – estimates range from 16,000 to 20,000 Jews – and their political clout is minor compared to the Palestinian-Chilean (Chilestino) community. The Chilestinos outnumber the Jews by about 30 to 1.

Moreover, these Chilestinos are fantastically prosperous in Chile, so they punch will above their weight. They are overrepresented in the halls of power in Chile. There is not much of a brake on public anti-Israel sentiment.

So let’s look at what the Jewish community is Chile is up against.

A) A Palestinian-Chilean (Chilestino) community which outnumbers the Chilean Jews about 30 to 1.
B) These Chilestinos are very prosperous, and well-educated. So the usual Jewish social advantage in these areas does not apply in Chile.
C) The Chilestinos are very politically connected.
D) Because most Chilestinto are Christian, they otherwise blend into Chilean society.

Hence, the Jewish community in Chile is worried. (Click Here).

The Jews of Chile have been worried about local antisemitism for some time, but the present Gazan War – with its uptick in worldwide antisemitism – has made Chile’s Jews even more nervous. The significant protests against Israel by the Palestinian community in Chile have not helped.

The present Chilean government – at the time of this post – under President Gabriel Boric is hostile to Israel, and has joined in the genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. This would be unthinkable in the United States.


Posted on YouTube: September 14, 2024

This is the opposite of America’s congress which has condemned the case against Israel.

Source: US House votes to sanction International Criminal Court over Israel
Reuters
Patricia Zengerle
January 10, 2025

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court in protest at its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

The vote was 243 to 140 in favor of the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act,” which would sanction any foreigner who investigates, arrests, detains or prosecutes U.S. citizens or those of an allied country, including Israel, who are not members of the court.

(Read more)

Chile has pulled its ambassador from Israel.

In the past, the Israeli government has sharply criticized the Chilean government.


Posted on YouTube: December 21, 2021

The Israeli news show (i24News) – in the video above – has rightly centered the problem on leftist ideology.

Were this Peru or Bolivia, no one would really care.

But Chile is fundamentally a Western nation, with a strong democratic tradition, religious tolerance, and a strong economy. The Chilean government is acting out of character for a Western nation.

Sadly, the Palestinian community (Chilestino) is so powerful that even right wing Chilean politicians have had to yield to it. Sebastian Pinera was a Chilean right-winger.

Source: Chile supports Palestine’s right to independence
Middle East Monitor
May 11, 2018

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has expressed his support for efforts to establish a “free, independent, sovereign state” during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“Palestine has the right and the support of Chile to be a free, independent, sovereign and autonomous country, and the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination,” he said.

(Read More)

This has made things very dicey for Jewish-Chileans. As noted, this is not a recent development for Jewish-Chileans – as this five year old video shows, below – but it has gotton worse.


Posted on YouTube: July 9, 2020

So what is the prognosis?

Historically, the government of Chile has NOT been officially antisemitic. The government has shown great tolerance for Jews and Protestants.

In 1940, during World War 2, Chile took in Jewish refugees, when almost no one else in the world would. The son of one of those refugees became world famous. Mario Kreutzberger, better known as Don Francisco.


Posted on YouTube: August 26, 2015

So there are times when Chile has been generous to Jews. But tolerance for the Jewish religion in Chile does NOT translate into support for Zionism.

In 1947, the government of Chile wanted to vote, at the UN, for the Partition of Palestine in order to create a Jewish state. However, the Palestinian community interfered to demand that the Chilean government not approve of a Jewish state. So, at the last moment, the Chile delegation to the UN was told to abstain.

One member of the Chilean delegation resigned in protest over this.

Source:Chile Virtual History Tour
Jewish Virtual Library

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.

What is clear is that for eight decades, the Palestinian community in Chile, has had a near total lock on Chile’s foreign policies concerning the Mideast. This will probably not change any time soon.

Under Chile’s present leadership, the government’s anti-Zionist policies border on official antisemitism. Moreover, the Palestinian (Chilestino) Community has made a lot of allies, and they regularly engage in massive pro-Palestinian protests.


Posted on YouTube: October 10, 2024
Protests like that have to be troubling to the Chilean Jewish Community

A leftist mayor of the city of Recoleta in Chile, Daniel Jadue, the grandson of Palestinian immigrants to Chile, and a friend of President Boric, has a history of antisemitic comments.

Source: Chilean mayor under fire for saying being Jewish is a ‘supremacist conception’
Times of Israel
Jackie Hajdenberg
January 5, 2024

Daniel Jadue, the mayor of Recoleta, outside of the capital of Santiago, made the comments last week while attending an event centered on Chilean journalist Pablo Jofré Leal’s book, “Zionism: The Ideology That Exterminates.” His comments were recorded on video, which he shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.

“Being Jewish starts from a conception that has to do with the supremacist conception of being part of a chosen people, so, if you are already part of a chosen people you do not believe in the equality of all human beings before anything, right?” he said. “Well, here we are faced with an ideology that I believe is the most Nazi thing I have seen in my life.”

(Read more)

There is no call to hatred or violence. Chileans are NOT Nazis, but the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, has insulted the Jewish community the past – by ingraciously commenting on a gift from the Jewish community, with criticism of Israeli policy.

Source: Faced with the new president Boric, Chilean Jews in expectation
https://k-larevue.com/
Ariel Bohorodzaner
March 31, 2022

This March 11, a new president took office in Chile. His name is Gabriel Boric. During the campaign, an old tweet of his reemerged : “The Jewish community of Chile sends me a small jar of honey for the Jewish New Year, reaffirming their commitment to “a more inclusive, supportive and respectful society. I appreciate the gesture but they could start by asking Israel to return the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

(Read more)

This is the offending tweet below:

The Jewish community felt insulted.

There is a small Evangelical Community in Chile which supports Israel, but they have nowhere near the clout of the Chilestinos.

So Chilean Jews are not in immediate physical danger, but if the Chilean government keeps up its present policies and withering criticisms, the Jews of Chile will feel unwelcome, pack up their bags, and leave. Some of them already have.

German TV Notices Chilestinos’ Suffering

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German TV Notices Chilestinos’ Suffering

Okay, this video from Deutsche Welle (German Wave/public TV) is roughly six months old, but it is noteworthy.


Posted on YouTube: July 3, 2024
Video can be auto-translated

While here in America, the issue of the Palestinian-Chileans is rarely metioned, it is noted by broadcasters outside the USA.

Again, this is not a minor issue. The Palestinian-Chileans (Chilestinos) are an elite and politically powerful group in Chile. They have hijacked Chile’s Mideast foreign policy so that it is against Israel.

Chile is otherwise a democratic, First-World, Western nation, but when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians, it is an outlier from other Western countries, thanks to the Chilestinos.

This should NOT be happening, particularly since Hamas drove out most of the Christians in Gaza.

Europe is aware of this. Israel is aware of this. Why aren’t most Americans?

The Other Latin American Ethnic Groups You Never Knew

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The Other Latin American Ethnic Groups You Never Knew

We Americans, sadly tend to think of Latin America as a monolithic culture. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The impression that I got in school – even in Spanish class, where I did NOT do so well – was that the countries primarily consisted of a European Spanish or Portuguese elite with a large mestizo class (Spanish + Indian blend). It was/is not that simple.

First, the word mestizo means mixed, and does NOT necessarily contain the derogatory wallop that a term like mulatto used to carry, and might carry still, in the USA. But then there is a subcategory called castizo which means only one-quarter Indian and three quarters European Spanish. That term, castizo, has fallen out of use.

But the racial lines in Latin America are not so clearly delineated. A person who is one-quarter Indian would usually be considered White.

Okay, that part you may have known.

BUT DID YOU KNOW THIS?

The largest ethnic group in Argentina is Italian, not Spanish. And half of those Italians are Northern Italians, not the Mediterranean complected Sicilians. Indeed, though Argentina speaks Spanish, the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area speaks Spanish. but with an Italian accent, and they often say Ciao instead of Adios.


Posted on YouTube: November 3, 2017

Indeed, in the early 20th century, so many Italians were leaving Italy for South America that Italy had to make emigration illegal. About 60% of Argentines have some degree of Italian ancestry, albeit not necessarily pure. Chile is roughly 3.5% Italian, but Uruguay is about 44% Italian in whole or part, while Brazil is about 15% Italian in whole or part.

And then there are the Germans. Somewhere between 6-10% of Argentines are German. The problem is that Germanic immigration started to Argentina before Germany was unified in 1871; and so were not properly registered as German. If you add in the German speaking Swiss, Austrians, and ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe, the number could go much higher.

Chile is about 2-1/2% German, with small Uruguay slightly over 1%; and Brazil comes in at 2.5%.

Of course, many are intermarried with other ethnicities now.

So NO, the German-Argentines are NOT all descended from those who fled to Argentina after WW 2. There had been a considerable amount of Germans in Argentina before the war, many of them had been there for generations; and some of the then newer German-Argentines had even fled Hitler in the 1930s. Those Nazis who fled after WW 2 were a relatively small group compared to the German-Argentine population and they only fled so they could hide.


Posted on YouTube: March 7, 2016

South Brazil is heavily German and Italian.

Further complicating the matter is that many of the Spanish immigrants to South America were not Spanish, but rather Basque and Galicians, who technically are not ethnic Spaniards, but come from the Whiter regions of Northern Spain.

Okay, you say, so Argentina is relatively White. Well, the same is true of some other Latin Countries. Costa Rica is heavily European White; with two-thirds identifying as White.

Chile has a considerable British population (about 3.5%).

To further add confusion to the mix, a large amount of South America’s founding fathers were from the British Isles.

Bernardo O’Higgins – half Irish, founding father of Chile.
Admiral Cochrane – Scottish, father of Chilean Navy
Admiral Willian Brown – Irish, founder of Argentine Navy

And not just these. A lot of mercenaries from Britan and Ireland fought in South America’s patriot armies.


Posted on YouTube: April 7, 2009
Today, between 1% to 2%, over a half million, of Argentines are Irish in whole or part.

Uruguay has over 10% French ancestry in whole or part, while Chile is roughly 4% French in ancestry, with Argentina having a whopping 17% French ancestry in whole or part.

Ukrainians, in whole or part, are roughly 3.5% of Argentina’s population.

The Croatians settled large parts of Chile and Argentina.


Posted on YouTube: December 15, 2017

The current president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is of Croatian and Italian ancestry. A former president of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, was of Croatian and Swiss-German ancestry.

Okay, you say, but one does NOT normally see this in Mexico.

Well, most of Mexico and most of Central America is mestizo to be sure. But that is not true of all of Latin America. And even Mexico has some Germans and Arabs.

However, as so common in demographics, Wikipedia (2025) lists more Lebanese-Mexicans than Arab-Mexicans, which is ridiculous. This is a nightmare for historians and demographers, often caused by Lebanese Maronite Christians who refuse to consider themselves Arabs.

Large sections of South America, the southern tip (called the Southern Cone of South America) – Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and South Brazil – are very White, albeit with a looser definition of white. Being one half Indian may not necessarily disqualify a person. Then general rule is: if you are more than half white, you can be considered white. However, I have known a green-eyed Chilean who was majority White in ancestry, and called herself mestiza. South America does have a racial divide, but it is not so sharp as it was historically in the United States.

It could be argued that Argentina is whiter than the USA, except that American Whites are more Northern European in ancestry and usually pure White. Argentina does have Northern European Whites, but most Argentines are Mediterranean in ancestry, and half of Argentine Whites have some degree (small or large) of non-White (usually Indian) ancestry.

BTW: Some Latin Americans often prefer the term indigenes (Indigenous) to Indian, as they sometimes treat the term indio (Indian) as derogatory.

Brazil is about 1% Japanese, with a smaller concentration in Argentina.

Essentially, ethnically, Argentina is similar to the United States, only with the proportions of each ethnic group varying.

Religiously, another difference between the USA and Latin America used to be religion, with the USA being majority Protestant and Latin America being majority Catholic.

Forget that, now! Evangelical Christianity has made massive inroads into Latin America, with Brazil about one-third Evangelical and growing. In some Central American countries, Evangelicals are approaching or now outnumber Catholics in percentages.

As for Jews, America has more Jews by percentage than Latin America, but Argentina still has a massive number of Jews, and has the seventh largest community of Jews in the world. At one time, the percentage of Jews in Argentina rivalled that of the USA.

The Jews have had a massive effect on the Argentine nation to this day.


Posted on YouTube: July 10, 2024

Jews made an important contribution to the development of tango.

Unfortunately – and beyond the scope of this post – anti-Black discrimination is still strong in sections of Latin America, particularly Argentina.

So, if you thought that so many Arabs going to Latin America was that unbelievable, think again. Latin America is more of a melting pot than you probably realized.

Antisemitism Common Among Many Latin American Nations

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Antisemitism Common Among Many Latin American Nations

Source: Why Is Antisemitic Rhetoric So Widespread Among Left-Leaning Latin American Leaders?
The Media Line
Nathan Klabin
Jan 13, 2025

Parroting classic antisemitic tropes, the Colombian president has accused Israel of controlling “international financial capital” and of silencing the global press

In a region characterized by turbulent politics, Colombia has long stood out as a Latin American country with a pragmatic approach to international relations. But the tenure of President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerilla movement elected in 2022, has brought heightened scrutiny to Colombia’s foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel.

(Read More)

The problem is less born of religious hatred, but rather that left wing governments seem to have made a whipping boy of Israel.


Published on YouTube: May 1, 2024

There are around 120,000 Palestinians in Colombia, a nation of 52 million people. So they do not constitute much of a demographic footprint. Though there are roughly 3 million Colombians with some degree of Arab ancestry. However, the majority of those would be Christian and might not be quite as sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

The Evangelical presence is only around 14%, which is significant, but not that influential.

Chile on the other had is about 2-1/2% Palestinian, but they are very elite, and they pack a real political wallop.

On the videos, below, one can see Chilean President Boric attending a Palestinian Christmas event.


Posted on YouTube: December 17, 2024

But remember, Chile is a special case. The Palestinians in Chile are so elite that the politicians – both left and right – have to pay a sort of homage to the community – similar to how American politicians cozy up to AIPAC.

Source: Police in Chile guard Jews after anti-Semitic attacks
By Gil Stern, Stern Shefler
August 18, 2010
Jerusalem Post

“The Palestinian community is to Chile what the Jewish community is to the US,” [The president of Chile’s Jewish community, Gabriel] Zaliasnik explained.

So while Palestinians are force to be reckoned with in Chile, most of Latin America’s antisemitism seems to stem from leftist governments, more than raw antisemitism.

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