How Venezuela and the Middle East are becoming inseparable

January 26, 6:40 PMForeign Policy ExaminerAimee Kligman

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The situation in Caracas is heating up by the day for Jews living there. In Google's Venezuela News were two articles that bore alarming headlines. The first: "Antisemitismo en Venezuela: Acusan al gobierno", The Government is accused of antisemitism in Venezuela, and the second, "Acusan a Venezuela de ayudar a Hezbollá", Venezuela is being accused of helping Hezbollah.

This comes on the heels of our own Examiner reports about the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador to Venezuela, demonstrations and destructions that took place in front of the Israeli Embassy in Caracas, and the defacement of a Jewish synagogue in Caracas with hateful language, and tear gas being used by the agitators. When antisemitism is state sponsored, it is much more virulent as it maintains a steady hold on all media to selectively solidify its stance.

Jewish organizations in Venezuela have accused Chavez of being the invisible hand behind much of the violence and hate propaganda. They are also accusing the president of the republic of mounting a media campaign against the State of Israel. A member of one of those Jewish Organizations called the CAIV, Beatriz Rittigstein, labeled the current status of safety for the Jewish community in the country as perverse. She added that the very government who has ordered the antisemitic graffiti and the threats against Jews is the same which must guarantee their safety as Venezuelan citizens. She describes as dangerous what she views as a new precedent in Latin America where the government orchestrates an antisemitic media campaign that encompasses television, newspapers and Internet.

In the meantime, the deterioration of relations between the U.S. and Venezuela continues to spiral downward, as Washington accused Venezuelan diplomat Ghazi Nasr-al Din of working for Hezbollah and stated that the Chavez government is providing a safe haven to members of the Shiite terrorist group.

The US Department of Treasury, which has frozen Nasr-al Din's assets in the US, announced that he used to be the chargé d'affaires in Venezuela for Damascus, and is now working at the Lebanese Embassy as Director of Political Affairs. Identical measures were taken against Fawzi Kan-an, another man based in Venezuela who has facilitated passage for Hezbollah members to Venezuela and raised funds for the group.

The US has also blacklisted two travel agencies that are owned by Kan-an (Biblos and Hilal) and has accused him of having met Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon to discuss possible kidnappings and assassination attempts, and of having helped Hezbollah members receive training in Iran.