(JTA) — Undercover Israeli soldiers are “mapping out” his country, a Chilean lawmaker said in a television interview.
Eugenio Tuma, a senator of Palestinian descent who has been accused previously of anti-Semitic speech, said recently on the show “Controversia” that the soldiers were “dressed as civilians” and “mapping out the southern Chile region.”
Tuma, who chairs his country’s Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, added during his interview that the Chilean government “decided to do nothing given the power exerted by Israel and the U.S.”
Reacting to Tuma’s allegations, Dina Siegel Vann, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Latino and Latin American Institute, said, “Senator Tuma’s baseless accusations are extremely dangerous, all the more so in a country that has experienced an uptick in anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in recent years.”
In 2010, AJC called on the Chilean government and civil society leaders to publicly condemn Tuma for earlier remarks, including the labeling of Chilean Jews as “agents” serving Israel.
“The real danger to Chilean society is ignoring Tuma’s campaign of hate against Israel and Chilean Jews,” said Siegel Vann, adding that the anti-discrimination law adopted last year by the Chilean Congress should be used to take action against Tuma.
