In an effort to crack down on the dissemination of hate literature here, Argentine federal police have raided a bookstore in the center of the city, confiscating two magazines and one book deemed anti-Semitic.
Judge Jorge Urso, the official in charge of the Jan. 4 raid, said it was “the first step in a campaign to curb the sale and distribution of hate and racist literature in the country.”
The owner of the bookstore may be charged with distribution of illegal materials in the near future, Urso said.
Books such as the notorious anti-Semitic tract “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is easy to obtain in newsstands and bookstores in Buenos Aires and other major Argentine cities.
According to diplomatic sources, Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Aviran complained to Argentine authorities about the sale of such literature, saying that it was illegal under the terms of Argentina’s anti-discrimination laws.
In the wake of the complaint, local compiled a list of more than 100 hundred books, tracts and magazines that could be considered anti-Semitic.
The list was then reviewed by the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations, the Jewish umbrella organization known as DAIA, which described 10 of the publications as “clearly biased.”
According to an official who took part in the raid, the judge chose that particular bookstore for the raid because “it had an extensive collection on Nazi and nationalist subjects.”
“We think that shows a militant intention to distribute this literature,” the official also said.
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.
