As we mentioned here yesterday, on Friday night an armed gang made up of about 15 people took over and vandalized a synagogue in Caracas. While in control of the building they vandalized its library and study rooms, threw objects and scrolls sacred to Jews on the floor, painted antisemitic slogans on the walls and urinated wherever the urge took them.

El Universal of Caracas reports on reactions to the attack by first quoting a number of Jewish Venezuelans who gathered at the synagogue the next day.

“Today is the blackest day for our community.” For Marcos Cohen there was nothing more to say, his face said it all. It showed the indignation, surprise, and rage caused by the acts of vandalism carried out on Friday night in the Tifereth Israel Synagogue in Maríperez, [Caracas] acts condemned by the followers of all religions.

“It’s very unusual”, he added with sorrow. “This has never happened before. Since the Second World War there hasn’t been an antisemitic government (…). I’ve been in this country for 52 years and we’ve always been happy here. But now we feel threatened.”

“There’s a feeling of violation.” added Deborah Silverman. “These people came to make us afraid. They weren’t common criminals. It’s part of what we are living through in this country. There is no one to protect you because it’s the government that’s behind this type of thing.”, said Uri Weinstein. “We are Venezuelan and have worked her all our lives. We no connection with what’s going on in Gaza” affirmed Frida Plitman with vehemence.

In Buenos Aires the Simon Wiesenthal Centre reacted to the attack by calling on José Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States to intervene against the scandalous antisemitic campaign in Venezuela, one of its member states. In a letter bearing the signature of Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Wiesenthal Center’s founder, the organization indicated that “…under the presidency of Hugo Chávez, the Jewish community in Venezuela has suffered repeated attacks which have been tolerated by the government, when not actually initiated and encouraged by members of it. This antisemitic campaign has intensified with the conflict between Israel and Hamas being used as a pretext.”

In a related story the same newspaper reminds us that in November 2004 a Jewish school in Venezuela was raided by the police in a supposed search for arms and quotes President Hugo Chávez as having said on the 24^th of December 2005 that

Those capitalists who currently exploit the people are the inheritors of those who killed Jesus.