Behind the Headlines Chilean Jewry Faces Uncertain Future

It will be some time before the dust settles in the wake of the military coup that ousted Dr. Salvador Allende Gossans, the first Marxist to have been democratically elected in the Western Hemisphere, Dr. Allende is dead and, for the foreseeable future, so is the edifice he tried to build–unsuccessfully as it turned out–of a new economic and political system. For the first time since 1931 a military junta is ruling the country.

What does this development mean for the approximately 25,000 Jews, more than half of whom came to Chile less than 40 years ago or were born in the country and never knew the meaning of a military regime? What does it mean for the Jews who were part of the Allende Administration and Cabinet? What does the new situation mean in terms of Chile-Israel diplomatic relations?

For the most part, it is still too early to venture any specific answer. But this much can be assumed: if the junta remains in power and consolidates its rule, or even if it transfers formal power to the hands of a puppet “constitutional” or provisional government, relations with Israel will remain cordial; organized anti-Semitism will be discouraged although sporadic anti-Jewish actions may increase on the part of their right wing and the Arab League; and it is even likely that some of the 3500 of the 5000 Jews who left Chile but did not return after Dr. Allende became president, may return. All this, of course, is predicated on the assumption that the junta is itself not deposed by the powerful trade union movement, the left-wing forces and the formerly landless agricultural workers.

CONCERN FOR FATE OF LEADING JEWS

Of immediate concern, however, is the fate of the Jews who were most prominent among the 150 or so Jews in the Allende Administration. There is no immediate information about the safety or whereabouts of Jacobo Schaulsohn, a member of the five-man Constitutional Tribunal who formerly served as the President of the Board of Deputies; Dr. Enrique Testa, head of the Defense Council who was long active in Jewish affairs and was on leave as president of the Bank of Israel in Chile; Jaime Faivovich, Mayor of Santiago; Daniel Silberman, director of the country’s Copper Mining Corporation; Jose Berdichevsky, chief of Chilean military aviation in the Southern Region; and Volodia Toitlebaum, the Communist Party Senator.

For many Jews who were rendered marginal and obsolete in their functions as businessmen and professionals by the nationalizations introduced by the Allende government, the victory of the military will be a mixed bag of relief; mixed because while their economic activity may once again be reassured there is every likelihood that the Jews as a whole may be held as scapegoats by the extreme left-wing for the economic and political problems during the Allende Administration since 1970.

For many young Jews, especially the Zionist youth, the deposing of Dr. Allende and his government can only be a tragedy. When this correspondent was in Santiago last April on a field trip for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, he was told by several Zionist spokesmen that Zionist youths were deeply committed to helping the Allende government implement some of his socioeconomic policies. In fact, one Zionist spokesman said, the young people were so involved that aliya had all but ceased. “Their feeling is,” he said, “why should we go to Israel when we can build Socialism here?”

Many Jews–especially the community leaders may feel that the victory of the military may signify a closer diplomatic rapport with Israel. Several noted last spring confidentially that the Allende forces were cooling off toward Israel because they felt that the Jewish State was a lackey of American imperialism. Hatred of the U.S. government and some of the American industries in Chile was widespread among Dr. Allende and his co-thinkers.

In fact, one well-placed Jewish source revealed that an official of the Allende government and one very close to the late President’s political views was asked to go to Israel to judge for himself as to whether or not charges by Third World, non-aligned and left wing ideologists that Israel was an oppressor state were true. The official, the source related, finally agreed to go but only if he was invited by the Histadrut or Mapam in order to avoid the stigma of having been invited by the Israeli government.

ALLENDE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE TOWARD ISRAEL

The upshot, the source said, was that Histadrut invited him and when he returned to Chile he told friends privately that he was generally impressed with what he saw in Israel. “But so powerful was the official’s ingrained Marxist view, and so strong was the ideological pressure on him that Israel was indeed an outpost in the Middle East of American imperialism, that when he was asked to make a public statement about his impressions of Israel he refused to do so,” the source said. “The tragedy was that he could neither lie about what he saw nor could he tell the truth.”

Nevertheless, the Allende government and Dr. Allende himself, expressed many positive feelings toward Israel: Dr. Allende accepted the view that Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people; the government refused to provide the Arab League with the diplomatic status it had been seeking; Dr. Allende emphasized on many occasions that the pillar of Chile’s foreign policy is respect for the self-determination of peoples and solution of conflicts through negotiations; and he often expressed the view that peace in the Middle East must be based on the UN Security Council Resolution 242.

In addition, Dr. Allende expressed sympathy for the Soviet Jews and the Jews in Syria and Iraq. His expression of sympathy for Jews in Arab countries was especially significant because of the large and affluent Arab community. During Dr. Allende’s presidency there were numerous scientific and exchange missions between Chile and Israel.

Several days before the government was over thrown by the military, this correspondent received a statement from the rabbinate in Chile which noted, among other things, that the rabbinate and Rabbi Dr. Angel Kreiman “maintains very good relations at all times, including the High Holy Days, with the national government, the Catholic Archbishop, the Protestant bishops, Jewish-Christian organizations, and the university and the Chilean-Israeli Institute of Culture.”

RIGHT-WING RAISED UGLY HEAD

Despite the fact that the Allende government was unalterably opposed to any form of racial discrimination, the right-wing tried to generate anti-Semitism. On April 12, for example, the right-wing daily. La Segunda, carried an article attacking Faivovich for a policy he was trying to institute in Santiago. The attack on Faivovich did not mention his Jewish background but it printed his name with

The reason for this, several people told this correspondent, was to impress the readers of the daily with the fact that Faivovich’s name was somehow strange and to convey the image of difference. In the last few weeks, as tensions mounted and an open clash between the government and its opponents in the administration and within the civilian population became imminent, anti-Semitic harangues became more frequent and sharper.

More and more the pattern was emerging; blame the Jews, especially those in government, for the social ills of the country. (See report from Santiago in News Bulletin Sept. 12 P.1.) This pattern was predicted last spring when one Jewish leader said: “If things go well everyone will say that it was very clever on the part of the government to have Jews in leading positions. If things go badly, it will be said that it was due to the undue influence of the Jews.”

What now? The answer is a large question mark. The hope is that this question mark will not take the form of a political grappling hook in the neck of the Jewish community.