Wiesenthal Center Officials Urge Chile to Label Hezbollah as Terrorist Organization; Adopt IHRA Anti-Semitism Definition Warn Jewish Activists and Academics About Growing Threat from “Lone Wolf Terrorists”

August 29, 2019

."Santiago, Chile

Senior Simon Wiesenthal Officials urged the Chilean government, Interfaith leaders and Academicians to confront growing threats from Social Media platforms promoting anti-Semitism and `lone wolf` terrorism.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Dr. Ariel Gelblung in a series of meetings at the Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs and Education warned that “Lone Wolf” terrorist attacks targeting Synagogues, Churches and Mosques have already occured on five continents. “Social Media has played an important role in the majority of these attacks," Rabbi Cooper declared, adding that “a subculture of online celebrated the mass murder of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and made heroes and martyrs out of these criminals."

Center Officials also urged Chilean officials to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, adopt the IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism and review Chile`s support for the scandal-plagued UNWRA.

(Dr. Gelblung, First Secretary Israeli Embassy Fentay Alamu, Foreign Affairs Viceminister Carolina Valdivia, Rabbi Cooper, Executive Director Jewish Chilean Community Marcelo Isaacson)

At their presentation sponsored by the Catholic University of Chile and the Israeli Embassy, Ariel Gelblung, presented multiple examples from social media where the spurious anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of an alleged Jewish plot to control parts of Chile and Argentina was presented as fact. “Anti-Semites here in Chile are using social media platforms to spread these lurid and baseless lies that spread hatred against our community.”

During a reception at the official residence of Israeli Ambassador Marina Rosenberg, Rabbi Cooper urged a diverse group of interfaith leaders including Catholic, Lutheran, Bahà`i, Sufi and Jews to work together to demand that social media companies take immediate steps to curb extremists` access to their platforms.

Rabbi Cooper and Dr. Gelblung also briefed Jewish activists at a meeting  sponsored by Aish Chile.

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

 

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