May 28, 2011 – New York – AJC is calling on Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and his government to take concrete action to end ant-Semitism in the media.

Venezuela's state-owned media has spewed more anti-Semitism through a national radio station. While professing to admire the Jewish community, reporter Cristina Gonzalez recently read excerpts from the notorious Russian Czarist forgery, "Protocols of the Elder of Zion," urging listeners across the country to get hold of the hate-filled tract and learn more.

Her comments prompted CAIV, the umbrella body of Venezuelan Jewry, to file a formal complaint with judicial authorities. This, in turn, led to a commitment by the head of the national radio network that anti-Semitism would stop, but CAIV, having experienced such bigoted media assaults before, followed by hollow pledges, seeks a formal investigation of the matter and a clear denunciation by the government.

"For over a century, the ‘Protocols’ forgery has circulated in anti-Semitic circles around the world, triggering persecution and violence,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

More than once, President Chavez has declared that he would not tolerate anti-Semitism, yet it persists, peddled by government institutions under his direct authority,” said Harris. “It is high time, for once and for all, for the Chavez regime to stop playing the anti-Semitism card. Let him hear that message, loud and clear, from governments and civic institutions of good will across the region and around the world."

AJC has an association agreement with CAIV. Since Chavez came to power in 1999, AJC, though our Latino and Latin American Institute, has stayed in close touch with CAIV leaders, organized several solidarity missions to Caracas, encouraged wider support for the community, and hosted Venezuelan Jewish leaders at AJC conferences in the United States.

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