The Latin Countries With The Most Arabs

The Latin Countries With The Most Arabs


THE TEN MOST ARAB COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA
Posted on YouTube: October 14, 2020

The video above can be auto-translated.

This is their list which seems to be ordered by population. Were one to go by percentages, Argentina would have the largest population by percentage.

10) Uruguay
9) El Salvador
8) Paraguay
7) Honduras
6) Chile
5) Mexico
4) Columbia
3) Venezuela
2) Argentina
1) Brazil

One has to remember that most of the Arabs who came to the New World were usually Christian, and quite often were fleeing Islamic persecutions.

These Christian Arabs erroneously get lumped together with Muslims, but this is a demographic and historical mistake. Unfortunately, it is a mistake that some Arab-Latin populations make themselves.

For example: The Chilestinos (Chileans of Palestinian descent) are almost always Christian, yet they identity with the Islamic cause of Palestinian liberation. They even embrace Islamic symbolism.


A POSTER by Chilestinos advertising a trip to the Holy Land
(But why did the photo focus on the Dome of the Rock: a Muslim
site, if the Chilestinos are Christian?)

Lucky, in many Latin-American countries the largest or second largest subgroup of Arabs are the descendants of Lebanese Maronites. Maronite Christianity affiliates with Roman Catholicism, and they historically have considered themselves closest to the West. They make sure to distinguish themselves from Muslims.

The Maronite-Latins remember the persecutions their ancestors suffered in Lebanon from Muslims, most recently from the PLO during the Lebanese Civil War. Some even refuse to call themselves Arabs, preferring to invoke their Phoenician ancestry.

As the Canadian-American scholar, T.B. Irving, noted:

Source Islamic Renewal in Iberia and Latin America: Its Needs and Preconditions T.B. Irving 1981
a lecture delivered at the University of Brasilia

[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”.

There are roughly ten times as many Maronites in the Americas as there is in Lebanon itself, and they remember who drove them out: the Muslims.

The Maronites in Latin America usually vary from neutral to some even being Zionist in their opinions. They can moderate the power of the anti-Israel Arabs.

However, in Chile, the Chilestinos (Palestinian-Chileans), who are Christian, are powerful, rich, influential, and the largest of the Arab subgroups. Hence, the Chilestinos distort Chile’s foreign policies.

In Honduras and El Salvador, there are also Palestinians, but those are countered by a massive Evangelical revival in those countries.

Evangelicals versus Iran in Latin America

Evangelicals versus Iran in Latin America


Posted on YouTube: November 13, 2023

Iran’s influence is continuing to grow, not only in the support of Hezbollah operatives, but especially through the netcasting and broadcasting of HispanTV, which sends out Iranian propaganda to the continent. And Iran assists the dictatorial regime in Venezuela.

Source: Why Iran’s Growing Influence in Venezuela Challenges the West
VOA
Michael Lipin
March 11, 2023

WASHINGTON —
Iran is striving to expand its influence in fellow U.S. adversary Venezuela, which is hosting an Iranian cultural fair this week and seeking Iranian assistance to revive the ailing Venezuelan energy industry.

(Read More)

Iran is troublemaking in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in this area of propaganda.

Whatever one thinks of pro-Jewish or pro-Israel lobbies in the United States, they are an antidote to some really ugly antisemitic disinformation out there. Indeed, Latin America is often drenched with anti-Israel agitprop that would not have been tolerated in the USA, until recently, which is a sad commentary on recent developments.

The anti-Israel indoctrination that America is sadly seeing now, Latin America has been drenched with for a long time.

Yet, oddly, Iran’s influence is more political than religious.

Why not religious?

Because Islam is being countered in Latin America – not by Jewish influence, as the Jewish population is usually small – but rather by a large and growing Evangelical Christian movement.

In Brazil, the population is 31% Evangelical.
In El Salvador, the population is 40% Evangelical — more than Catholics.
In Guatemala, the population is 40% Evangelical.
In Honduras, the population is 40% Evangelical.
In Chile, the population is 18% Evangelical.
In Argentina, the population is 15% Evangelical.

These Evangelicals tend to be very pro-Zionist.

So Iran’s influence is limited to the political arena, which is scary enough, though even in politics, the Evangelical church is competing successfully.

In the case of Chile and Brazil, the growing Evangelical power base has not stopped the governments from criticizing Israel, but it will prevent some of the Latin governments from going too far.

In one nation, Guatemala, the Evangelicals have made the country very friendly to Israel.


Posted on YouTube: February 18, 2022

El Salvador is particularly interesting, as it has an influential Palestinian (chiefly Christian) minority population. The Palestinian Christians tend to be more Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, though.


Posted on YouTube: May 26, 2019

Their present president, Nayib Bukele, is of Palestinian origin, yet somewhat pro-Israel.

So the Evangelicals are winning.


December 22, 2023 — major rewrite and title change.

Why Are So Many Latin Countries Supporting Gaza?

Why Are So Many Latin Countries Supporting Gaza?

@ajplus Why are so many countries in Latin America showing solidarity with Palestinians? Here’s what we know. #Gaza #GazaUnderAttack #Palestinians #Palestine #Israel #FreePalestine #Palestine #LATAM #LatinAmerica ♬ ■ News News-Drone-IT-AI(963995) – ImoKenpi-Dou

Posted on TikTok: November 12, 2023

A lot of info to digest.

The most important thing overlooked is that 31% of Brazil is now Evangelical, and they tend to strongly support Israel. Brazil’s Lulu can only go so far in his criticism of Israel.

Another issue is Latin culture, itself.

Latin/Spanish and Portuguese cultures center on the national liberation struggles against the Islamic/Moorish invaders of Spain and Portugal in the Middle Ages … the so-called Reconquista. Latin culture, at its core, is not friendly to Islam.

What is driving this pro-Palestinianism is the large influence of:

A) Palestinian ethnic groups in Latin America, especially Chile, Honduras, and El Salvador.

B) Iran’s propagandizing through HispanTV.

C) Leftist regimes.

And finally, one should take this news report with a grain of salt, as it is posted by AJPlus, a subset of Al Jazeera, which is a Qatari based anti-Israel media outlet.

Remember, not only Brazil, but also Guatemala has a very large pro-Israel Evangelical constituency. Guatemala is 40 percent Evangelical.

Brazilian supporters of Israel


Posted on YouTube: Early October, 2023

Guatemalan support of Israel
Bucking world opinion, Guatemala was one of the few nations which voted against pressuring Israel for a ceasefire in its war against Hamas.

Source: 4 EU nations voted ‘No’ to UN resolution for humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza Strip
Anadolu Agency (Turkish)
October 29, 2023

Among the 14 countries that voted against the cease-fire were Israel, the US, Fiji, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.

So, remember, check out the news with discernment.

Explaining South American Attitudes Towards the Mideast

Explaining South American Attitudes Towards the Mideast

One has to remember that Latin/South America has a massive and prosperous Arab demographic, and this can affect Latin America views of the wars in the Mideast.

However, the Arab demographic is not necessarily monolithic.

First: Almost all of the Arabs in Latin/America are Christian. And they do not identify with the Islamic aspect of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

This distance derives from the Mideast history of their Arab ancestors, where there were instances of anti-Christian massacres such as in 1860, which drove many Christians out of Lebanon and Syria, to Latin America.

Source: Diatribe – The forgotten genocide

The slaughter of the Catholic Maronite Christians caused France, recalling its ancient role as protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire which was established by treaty in 1523 to intervene [in 1860], landing troops in Lebanon to protect the Maronites.

Another source of Christian-Arab flight to Latin America was due to a fear that the Ottoman Empire would draft Christian men and put them in the front ranks of the battle as cannon fodder. So a lot of Christian families left to protect their sons.

Given these historical Muslim-Christian hostilities, when South American Arabs (who would be Christian) support the Palestinian cause, they probably would support the secular Fatah over the Islamic Hamas. They would avoid Islamic sympathies.

The only possible exception to this are the Palestinians in Latin America. (Click Here) to see some Palestinian-Chileans (who would be Christian) support the Intifada. Palestinian Christians in Latin America can be insane in their animus towards Israel. It makes no sense.

Second: It was easier for Christian Arabs to move to the West and assimilate in Latin America than for Muslims. There were links between the West and the Christians in the Holy Land. Such links could provide needed help. No such connections existed for Muslims who were on their own.

Third: Those relatively few Muslims who did immigrate to Latin America often converted to Catholicism or intermarried with local Christians in Latin America. The kids ended up being raised Christian, usually Catholic.

Fourth: Maronite Christians (affiliated with Catholicism), which form a large part of the Arab demographic in Latin America, have been historically hostile to Islam. As already noted above, on more than one occasion, Muslims tried to genocide the Maronite Christians in Lebanon. So there is no love lost between Maronites and Muslims.

Maronites tend to assimilate very well in Latin America, as they consider themselves to be a Western people. They rise to the top of society very fast. They are often neutral in Arab-Israeli struggles, and some of them can be pro-Israel.

Indeed, some of the Maronites see themselves as Phoenicians, not Arabs at all.

At the very least, the Maronites of Latin America have a moderating effect on the opinions of other Arab groups in Latin America.

Fifth: Syrian Arabs in Latin America (usually Eastern Christians) have other concerns, especially after the Syrian Civil War, when the remaining Christians in Syria came under threat of genocide.

Sixth: It is the Palestinian Latins (who are almost always Christian) who are a matter of concern. The Palestinian-Christians of Chile (Chilestinos) being an example.

Chile has the largest community of Palestinians outside the Mideast. However, the are NOT representative of Palestinians as a whole, since Chile’s Palestinians (Palestinos / Chilestinos) are taken, almost exclusively, from the Christian element.

The Palestinian Latins are noticeable in Honduras, El Salvador, and Chile.

Source: Police in Chile guard Jews after anti-Semitic attacks – JPOST

The Palestinian community is to Chile what the Jewish community is to the U.S.

– Gabriel Zalisnek, then president of Chile’s Jewish Federation

Palestinian Christians in Chile tend to be very intelligent, influential, hard working, and rich. But all their virtues disappear when it comes to the issue of Israel. They have a blind spot in that area. They have major outsize influence in Chile which, being a first world country now, has a major influence on Latin America.

Hostility from a poor country would not carry much weight, but from Chile, it can be worrisome. Some Jewish organizations have expressed grave concerns over the Palestinian-Christians in Chile, and their influence on government policy.


Posted on YouTube: July 9, 2020

The Palestinian-Latins and the Leftist governments in Latin America (such as Venezuela) are the issue, but overall the Arab-Latin Americans are not monolithic at all. There is some cause for concern, but not too much to worry about.

The issue is really Islam, and unfortunately, the penetration of Iranian influence, especially through HispanTV, a joint venture of Iran and Leftist Venezuela.

While Arab-Latin Americans may not be thrilled with Israel, some of them remember what the Muslims did to their ancestors — except for the Palestinian Latins (who are, ironically, mostly Christian). As noted, the Palestinian-Chileans are insanely anti-Israel and they have real clout in Chile.

The group holding back the flood of anti-Israel sentiment, however, are very pro-Israel Evangelical Christians in Latin America.


Posted on YouTube: 2023

Page 1 of 2
1 2