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.
Chile has a population of roughly 20 Million people at the time of writing this post. It is considered a developed country and is borderline first world.
Except for the period of Allende and Pinochet, Chile has a history of being a stable republic. Today, it has a high freedom index. Chile also has a growing Evangelical population, which are often Zionist in outlook.
It’s influence in Latin America cannot be underestimated.
However, roughly 500,000 of its population is Palestinian in origin (~2.5%), and they are very prosperous and embedded in politics. They have so much sway that they have altered Chile’s politics regarding Israel. Even otherwise conservative politicians have to pay homage to the Palestinian cause.
The video below shows the cultural power and influence of just one aspect of the Palestinian-Chileans: Their football team. The video also mentions Sebastian Piñera – a former conservative president and politician – who had to pay them proper homage (see 1:04 in video) by recognizing the state of Palestine during his administration.
Posted on YouTube: June 21, 2024
Many, even Jews, have noticed that the power of Chilean Palestinians (Chilestinos) corresponds to that of the Jews in America.
“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 a key to weakening Iranian influence in Latin America is to defang the power of the Chilestino community.
Would it even be possible? The Chilestino community is 99% Christian (usually Eastern Orthodox Christian or Roman Catholic). Even though they tend to identify with the Palestinian cause, their Christian identity might be a tool to bring them to a reconsideration of their support towards what is now a Muslim cause in the Mideast.
Daunting though it may be, the Evangelicals of Chile should put denominational differences aside and reach out to the Chilestinos. Maybe they can get them to ease up a bit.
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.
Al Jazeera is posting some video about a notable Palestinian activist, Aya al-Hamidi, in Chile.
Posted on YouTube: August 15, 2024
(You’ll probably have to make full screen
in order to read the fine print)
And we have another posted about her, here.
Go to 1:21 to see Aya al-Hamidi
Posted on YouTube: December 9, 2023
Chile is rather amazing. It is a borderline first-world country with a high democratic index, higher even than the USA.
Yet, it differs from the Western world with its strong support for Palestinians causes, which has brought Chile to the attention of many pro-Jewish, pro-Israel advocacy groups which have critized Chile for its positions, and what they perceive as antisemitism.
Posted on YouTube: July 9, 2020
by the World Jewish Congress
At roughtly 500,000 people, the Palestinians in Chile are roughly 2½ percent of the population – similar to the Jewish demographic in the USA. And also like American Jews, these Palestinians (Chilestinos) are educated, prosperous, and punch well above their weight in the economy and politics.
“The Palestinian community is to Chile what the Jewish community is to the US,” [The president of Chile’s Jewish community, Gabriel] Zaliasnik explained.
Oddly, about 99% of the Palestinian-Chileans – called Chilestinos – are Christian, and seem to have forgotten how often the Muslims in the Mideast used to persecute their ancestors. Ironically, they tend to identify strongly with the Palestinian cause, even with its Muslim aspects.
Hence, a Palestinian activist, like Aly al Hamdi, can get airtime on the University of Chile’s Radio station.
Source: Radio Universidad de Chile
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Translated by Google
… Under the slogan “Our eyes in Rafah”, activist Aya Al Hamidi, the Coordinator for Palestine, Action for Palestine and Chile for Palestine, called for the mobilization this Friday afternoon through social networks and demanded that Chile break relations with Israel.
The mobilization, which began at 6:30 p.m. on the corner of Providencia and Tobalaba, was attended by a hundred people with Palestinian flags and posters calling for an end to the massacre in the Gaza Strip.
In a conversation with Radio Universidad de Chile, Aya Al Hamidi, commented that the “whole world is rising up for Palestine, for Gaza and even more so when Hamas accepted the peace agreement, accepted all the terms and everything to stop the massacre.”
“Instead of stopping, Israel attacked and invaded Rafah. Nearly 100 people have died in less than four days. So, demonstrating against a genocide is essential to be able to achieve something,” Al Hamidi said.
It is not that Jews have no influence in Chile. They do. Rather, they are outnumbered by the highly successful Palestinian-Chilean community (Chilestinos) by roughly 30 to 1.
Posted on YouTube: September 1, 2021
by the World Jewish Congress
Chile’s government has a somewhate tortured relationship with Israel. Right now, it has recalled its ambassador due to the war in Gaza.
Source: Israeli Diplomacy Doing Well Despite War
~ Ynetnews / Bridges for Peace
by: Itamar Eichner
August 7, 2024
Chile: Chile’s leftist president Gabriel Boric recalled his country’s ambassador to Israel. Conversely, Israeli Ambassador Gil Artzieli remained in Chile and continues to work as usual.
Though quite democratic, and less corrupt that Argentina, Chile has does not have the strong Jewish influence that Argentina had during its history. Its government – though NOT antisemitic – is not hospitable to Israel.
Even conservative politicians – whom one would think would be pro-Israel – still have to pay homage to the Palestinian community in Chile, or their political careers will be destroyed.
And the Chilestinos?! They have group amnesia, forgetting that one of the reasons their Christian ancestors fled to Chile was to escape the Muslim world. Their support for, what is now an Islamic cause is, truly unbelievable.
September 8, 2024 – edited a spelling. Added a video.
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.
