For more than a decade, Venezuelan Jews have been subject to the whims of a mercurial president who used his bully pulpit to intimidate them and rail against Israel.
While President Hugo Chavez never explicitly threatened the Jews of Venezuela,
his frequent harassment and staunchly anti-Israel positions kept them continually on edge. Even with Chavez gone, felled by cancer at 58 just weeks into his fourth term, they aren’t quite ready to relax.
For one thing, he leaves behind a country wracked by violent crime and mired in economic turmoil. For another, he played such a commanding role in Venezuelan life and politics that nobody is quite sure what will happen to the country.
The first signs of trouble under Chavez came during the second intifada, when the government sponsored rallies in support of the Palestinian cause.
During the 2006 Lebanon War, Chavez accused Israel of perpetrating a “new Holocaust” and using Nazi-like methods to kill Lebanese and Palestinians. Meanwhile, Chavez nurtured an ever-closer relationship with Iran.
Venezuela’s final break with Israel came during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in
December 2008. Chavez severed diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, expelled the Israeli ambassador in Caracas and insisted that the Jews of Venezuela rebuke Israel.
Anti-Semitic graffiti appeared in Caracas, equating the Star of David with the swastika. Broadcasters on state radio recommended “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as an insightful read. Jewish institutions and houses of worship were attacked.
For now, it’s unclear whether or for how long the anti-Jewish atmosphere Chavez allowed to take root in Venezuela will survive him.
But after 14 years of policies that prompted more than half of Venezuela’s 20,000 Jews to leave — and with the country’s economic and security problems now compounded by political turmoil — it’s hard to imagine very many will hurry back.