The Hashomer Hatzair of North America today denounced the Chilean military junta which overthrew the socialist regime of President Salvador Allende Gossens. In a statement issued here, the Socialist-Zionist youth movement observed that democracy was the only security for the Jewish minority in Chile. The Allende regime was known for its healthy diplomatic relations with Israel, the statement said, and charged that “the reactionary forces which staged the coup have a recent history of anti-Semitism.”
To support the latter contention, Hashomer Hatzair cited a statement issued by Elmer L. Winter, president of the American Jewish Committee, in which he noted that prior to the coup “La Prensa,” a Christian-Democratic newspaper in Santiago published an article, “Chile, Jewish Communism; Russia, Anti-Jewish Communism,” and that letters of an anti-Semitic nature appeared in the moderate “La Segunda.”
(In London today, the British Poale Zion protested Britain’s “hasty recognition” of the Chilean junta. It said events in Chile were a blow to democracy everywhere “and can only give a filip to the advocates of violence.”)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
