Strong Federal legislation directed against anti-Semites who have been, for a long time, stirring hatred in this country, was proposed to the Argentine Congress here today by President Arturo Ilia. The President sent to the Congress a bill outlawing all forms of hatemongering including “verbal attacks on individuals or groups, based on religion or ethnic origins. ” The measure would call for prison terms of one year to five years upon conviction.
This was the first bill of the kind ever presented to the Congress here. While the Government had already outlawed the two major anti-Semitic groups in this country–the Tacuara movement and Guardia Restaurodora Nacionalista–both have been operating flagrantly. The two neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist organizations, believed to number no more than a total of about 10, 000 members, have been supported openly by several retired army and air force generals. Their activities have also received important support from an Arab League agent, Hussein Triki, who has been spreading anti-Semitism under the guise of “anti-Zionism.” Triki has reportedly left Argentina, after Jewish spokesmen and other progressive forces have demanded that he be expelled.
Meanwhile, the left-of-center Democratic Progressive Party held a protest meeting today, sharply criticizing anti-Semitism and “foreign interference in Argentine affairs. ” The latter condemnation was evidently aimed at Triki’s activities. Principal speakers at the protest rally were the chairman of the party. Horacio Thedy, who was a candidate for the vice-presidency in the national elections in 1963; and Leon Perez, representing the DAIA, central body of organized Argentine Jewry.
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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.
