BRAZIL 2006

 

Antisemitic activity increased significantly in 2006, especially during the Second Lebanon War. There was also an escalation in attacks against Jewish homes and synagogues, antisemitic expressions and demands for the destruction of Israel on Brazilian web pages, and especially in blogs.

 

The Jewish community

Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has a Jewish population of about 100,000, out of a total population of over 185 million inhabitants. Most Jews live in Brazil’s major cities – Río de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro), São Paulo (São Paulo) and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) – but some live in other locations, such as Salvador (Bahia), Fortaleza (Ceará), Belém (Pará) and Manaus (Amazonas).

The Jewish community of São Paulo is represented by the Federação Israelita do Estado de São Paulo (FISESP, http://www.fisesp.org.br) and the Jewish community of Rio de Janeiro by the Federação Israelita do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FIERJ, http://www.fierj.org.br). The umbrella institution representing the Jewish community of Brazil is the Confederação Israelita do Brasil (CONIB, http://www.conib.org.br), which coordinates 13 Jewish organizations from the states of Amazonas, Bahia, Goiás, Ceará, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo.

Among Jewish publications, the Centro da Cultura Judaica publishes the magazine Revista 18, while the São Paulo community puts out Revista Shalom, as well as the traditional Tribuna Judaica and Morsahá. On the Internet the principals sources of information include the bulletins: Jornal Alef (http://www.jornalalef.com.br/); De Olho na Mídia (http://www.deolhonamidia.org.br); Revista Com Shalom (http://www.comshalom.com.br) and Tribuna Judaica (http://www.tribunajudaica.com.br).

 

Antisemitic Activities

Second Lebanon War

Antisemitic activity increased significantly in 2006, especially during the Second Lebanon War. For example, on 5 August, six youths threw stones and a Molotov cocktail at the entrance of the Sociedade Israelense Brasileira Beth Jacob synagogue, Campinas. Windows were broken and the door was burned. The synagogue was empty and the resulting fire was extinguished by neighbors. The perpetrators wrote, “Lebanon is the real Holocaust” on the road and ran away. The Jewish community of Campinas numbers 180 families. The perpetrators were not found. About three weeks later a lighted firecracker was tossed from a passing vehicle at the door of the Beth Jacob Synagogue in São Paulo. In addition, there was a considerable rise in anti-Zionist statements, including comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.

Another serious incident involved a demonstration planned to take place in a campus auditorium by the workers syndicate of São Paulo University, supported by Trotskyite Professor of History Oswaldo Coggiola, together with Arab and pro-Hizballah groups. “against the massacre in Lebanon and in Palestine.” Because of its militant character, several Jewish professors alerted the rector, who forbade use of the auditorium for that purpose. The manifestation thus took place in front of the hall, with the participation of students, academic and administrative staff, left-wing groups and some Arab and pro-Hizballah groups.

In reaction, the University workers syndicate called in its bulletin of 11 August for an end to the State of Israel, stating that “Jewish genociders” were responsible for the closure of the auditorium. They also wrote that they were defending the struggle of the Arab, Palestinian and Lebanese people against Israeli state terrorism. It was claimed, further, that “Israeli bombs are threatening the democracy of the University of São Paulo.”

Federal Congresswoman Socorro Gomes (Communist Party of Brazil − PC do B) demanded an end “to the massacre committed in Lebanon by the Nazi-Zionists [nazisionistas, in Portuguese],” during a solidarity visit to the Lebanese ambassador in Brazil, Dr. Fouad El-Khoury.

There was also an escalation in antisemitic expressions and demands for the destruction of Israel on Brazilian web pages, and especially in blogs. In his column “Through Which Mouth Do They Speak?” (11 Aug. − http://www.sebastiaonery.com.br/visualizar.jsp?id=516), well-known journalist Sebastião Nery wrote: “Behind the mystery of the brutality of Israel against Lebanon, destroying the country, killing more than 1000 people (and causing the death of 100 Jews) under the insignificant pretext of the kidnapping of two soldiers by Hizballah guerillas, is the hand of business and banks. Lebanon was always the major commercial center of the Middle East, and its banks were the most powerful after those of the Jews… To destroy Lebanon is to destroy commerce and the banks in Lebanon. If the US is so supportive of Israel in its search for territories, why don't they give them California or Texas?… Israel thinks that because it is the [land of] the ‘Chosen People’ and the ‘Promised Land’, it can dominate the world... It is not enough for them to dominate 70 percent of the media and the world’s cultural activities… ”

A meeting of some 500 members of the Santa Catarina Arab community took place on 21 July in Florianopolis, to protest “the State of Israel’s terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Palestine.” Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab residents of the city closed their shops to participate in the event, which was organized by the Comitê Palestina Livre (Free Palestine Committee). Senator Ideli Salvati from Santa Catarina, leader of the Lula government in the Senate, denounced the “massacre in Lebanon.”

 

Propaganda and the Media

Twenty-one Brazilian cartoonists sent entries to the Holocaust cartoon contest initiated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Brazil was third after Iran and Turkey in number of submissions. Well-known Brazilian caricaturist Carlos Latuff (see ASW 2004) won second prize.

Anti-Zionist and virulently anti-Israel expressions continued to appear in the media throughout the year. For example, Marxist sociologist of Jewish descent, Gabriel Bolaffi, a professor at São Paulo University, wrote under the title, “Zionism – A Sad Irony,” in Journal Estado de São Paulo (14 Jan.): the Iranian president was correct “in certain points of his discourse,” hinting that the end of Zionism and the State of Israel would be desirable and just.

The popular TV compère Gilberto Barros, known as Leão, referred to Israelis on his program “Good Night Brazil [Boa Noite Brasil] on TV Bandeirantes, on 27 July, as “human beasts.” He also asked a historian how to put an end to Israel. He apologized, following a complaint by the local FIERJ.

Further, popular, newly elected Congressman Clodovil Hernandes for São Paulo (Christian Workers Party − Partido Trabalhista Cristao, PTC), formerly, a well-known TV compère, reiterated on a radio program (27 Oct.) the canard that the Jews had planned the 9/11 attacks and claimed that “there were no Jewish victims.” He also said that the Holocaust was Jewish propaganda. Later he, too, apologized during a meeting with FIERJ leaders.

In Florianopolis, PSTU Senate candidate Gilmar Salgado, from the Arab community of Santa Catarina, called in November in a video broadcast for Brazilians to take a stand against the Bush government and against the State of Israel and to vote for him. The video was broadcast on national Brazilian TV during an hour dedicated to propaganda of the various parties competing in the 2006 elections, when Luís Inácio “Lula” da Silva was re-elected president. This was the first time that a candidate had made such an appeal during this program.

According to the US State Department annual report for 2006 on human rights practices in Brazil, there were signs of increasing violence toward Jews. These were manifested in the number of web blogs with antisemitic content, as well as in acts of vandalism and threats against Jews by mail or phone, and swastikas painted in the streets.

 

Neo-Nazi Activity

Neo-Nazis graffiti continued to be reported on synagogues: “Death to the Jewish pigs” and “Valhalla88” accompanied by a swastika, were drawn on the synagogue of the Jewish Association of San Andres of the Sao Paulo State (Associação Religiosa Israelita de Santo André), on 7 August. A swastika was painted on the front door of the Santa Maria synagogue (state of Rio Grande do Sul) on the night of 23 November. The president of the local community, Jairo Amiel, said this was the second time in 25 years that the front door of the synagogue had been defaced; the first time was two years previously.

According to the Forum de Coordenação contra o Anti-Semitismo (Coordination Forum against Antisemitism), 100 instances of graffiti painting of swastikas and the symbol “88” were reported on Jewish homes and on a synagogue in Teresópolis (RJ) in May.