The Venezuelan Government Raids Jewish Wedding In Search Of Explosives, Would Like To Wish You A Happy Holiday
5 December 2007, 1:45 PM. By Alex Alvarez
The Venezuelan government would like to wish you a Happy Hanukkah by raiding your favorite Hebrew social club in search of explosives and guns. Festive!:
The raid on La Hebraica late Saturday night occurred just hours before Venezuelans went to the polls to decide on constitutional changes proposed by President Hugo Chavez. The raid was seen as a provocation against the Jewish community, which is almost unanimously opposed to Chavez, a major ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his leftist reforms.
Do you feel all warm and tingly yet? ‘Tis the season:
The police raid took place as 900 Jews enjoyed an all-night wedding party at the nearby Union Israelita synagogue in Altamira, an upscale suburb of Caracas.
According to sources, members of the police unit that investigates drug-trafficking and terrorism broke the main gate of La Hebraica in the middle of the night, allegedly looking for weapons and explosives. Officers searched the premises but found nothing, the sources said.
Aw, and all we were expecting this year was a new sweater. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has penned a letter to President Chavez condemning the raid:
“We are outraged by the inexplicable raid on Club Hebraica and are deeply concerned that the Jewish community in Venezuela is once again the target of intimidation,” said ADL National Chair Glen Lewy and National Director Abraham Foxman. “Such tactics have no place in a democratic society where civility, liberty and social justice should prevail.”
In a letter to President Hugo Chavez in response to the raid, Foxman and Lewy wrote: “It is troubling that anti-Semitism continues to be used as a political tool in your country. There is a danger that acts by law enforcement officers, such as the raid on Club Hebraica, may be interpreted by others to justify violence against Jews in Venezuela.”
Season’s greetings!
Police raid Venezuela Jewish center [JTA]
ADL condemns Caracas raid on Jewish club [The Jerusalem Post]
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Which leads me to discuss Palestine and Israel, one of my favorite international topics! So Chavez aligns himself with Iran which in turn supports Palestine… in case you didn’t know (I’m actually sure you didn’t) Israel is one of the MOST oppressive, brutal, and racist states in existence… Am I advocating random raids of Jews? Hell no, but to look at one side and pick without knowing the whole story is dangerous and DUMB (but totally American as well, I guess)! But thats all for now, I have more important battles to fight… specifically the witch hunt happening right now against Latinos in Arizona (and many, many, many other places)! Ciao!
P.S. I can’t believe how many Latinos believe the crap media! You’d think by now we’d know it to be a little suspect…
If the Venezuelan police are true Latinos, they probably left the wedding party with a plato wrapped in foil and a table centerpiece as well.
Rebekah, you sound like the valley girl version of Che Guevara
Drop the act…..
To attemp to explain an illigal raid on a group because you don’t like the group’s affiliations (as the Chavistas have apparently done) cannot be justified because that group has committed wrongs in their own past. Rebs, why are you compelled to argue in favor of such nonsense?
you right
me wrong
you good
me bad
you pretty
me ugly
you smart
me stupid
although i first wanted to like rebekah because she’s one of the few “non-guanabee-brownosers”, girl, you’ve gone off the deep end.. come back to the light!
her justification of this attack is like saying we should all be against catholics because the spaniards came over to the new world, raped our people, and forced it upon us! lets raid the catholic masses! or…lets raid all the mosques cuz ..HELLO TERRORISM!
*correction* she’s one of the few non-brownosing peeps that comment..
@rebekah: A person’s stance on Israel and the Palestinian situation is irrelevant in terms of this argument. A person’s level of awareness of the situation is also irrelevant. What is relevant is what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong for a government to use its police force to harass citizens for any purpose much less for political purposes.
The Israelis in the pursuit of security and peace are willing to do some pretty distasteful things to achieve it (checkpoints, racial profiling, incursions into Palestinian territory, and other unpleasant things. However, there are huge sectors of Israeli society who denounce all of this type of behavior. For more proof, read the newspaper Ha’aretz and you’ll see how conflicted Israeli society is about their security measures.
However, extreme Palestinians aren’t without blame either. Launching rockets from Gaza into Israel, car/bus bombings, and other acts of terrorism are some examples. The peaceful (which is the majority) Palestinians are complicit because they don’t denounce and root out this type of violence among their own.
Becky: NOW, you right!