It’s been a tough week for María José Lubertino. She’s the head of INADI, the Argentine state organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of equal rights for all citizens. During a radio interview she took it into her head to say that by attacking Hamas in Gaza, Israel had “violated international law” and that this had “backfired on it,” the latter point a reference to the protests outside the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. These included the usual comparisons - made from the platform and not only from the body of demonstrators - between Israel and Nazi Germany, as well as the customary expressions of support for Hamas.

She received a quick rap on the knuckles from Cabinet Chief ( a position roughly equivalent to Prime Minister ) Sergio Massa who described her comments as

… unfortunate. Especially because in Argentina we have achieved coexistence between religions and we should work to maintain it.

In a further sign that the certain elements of the government are waking up to the dangers of allowing a minority community be repeatedly and publicly vilified, national Human Rights Secretary Luis Eduardo Duhalde released a statement calling for a

.. stepping up of measures to inhibit racist or discriminatory attitudes.

Lubertino had no business mouthing off in public about international affairs as her responsibilities don’t extend beyond the borders of Argentina. In fairness, however, it must be acknowledged that she has now stopped trying to deny the obvious and has referred a number of cases of antisemitic expressions to the courts for further investigation on suspicion of breaking Argentina’s anti-discrimination laws.

It’s hard, though, not to feel a little sorry for her and her colleagues in government. They are all limited in what they can say about the recent upsurge in antisemitic expressions in this country by the fact that one of its principle promoters is Luis D’Elía, a social activist and admirer of Iran who is reputed to be close to former president Néstor Kirchner. D’Elía has proved to be as unwaveringly loyal to the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as he was to that of her husband. His value to the Kirchners lies principally in his ability to rapidly bring hundreds of supporters onto the streets whenever the government feels that their presence might be necessary.

An idea of his thinking can be gleaned from a recent interview he gave to the newspaper La Nación.

What responsibility do you think that the Argentine Jewish community has for what’s happening in the Middle East?

The Jewish community should have joined the thousands of Jews who marched in Tel Aviv to oppose the massacre and aggression carried out in Gaza by a right wing government. I’d like them to repudiate what their government has done, just like we have.

It’s not their government. The government of the Jewish community in Argentina is the Argentine government, not the Israeli one.

[I was talking about] the Israeli government.

Why impose a special burden of responsibility on Argentine Jews and not the rest of the citizens of the country?

I’m not imposing any responsibility, I am asking them to show sensitivity, I’m saying to them, “Come on boys, a little demonstration of pain.”

Without an explicit repudiation of D’Elía’s anti-antisemitic statements and activities from the highest levels of authority, the government of Argentina can’t credibly say that it is doing all that it can to protect the rights of Jewish Argentines.