The Delegacion de Associaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA), the central organization of Argentine Jewry, has protested to Channel 13 here for telecasting programs in which the villains were Jews. “In view of the enormous persuasion powers of tv.” the DAIA said, “it is obviously intolerable to create artificially anti-Jewish feelings.” It said “anti-Jewish intent is clearly visible” in the programs. The DAIA’s protest centered on an episode titled “The Frustration” in the weekly series “The Beginning and the End,” dramatizations of cases of corruption and other sensational true incidents. “The Frustration” concerned a Jewish client of a bank who, by offering a sum to the bank manager, preempted 150 small personal credits, causing despair to 150 families. The client was depicted as a usurer, and the actor who played him spoke with an unmistakable Jewish accent and caricatured mannerisms. The bank manager was depicted as an honest man who succumbs to a Jewish bribe. Channel 15 replied that it had not considered the characters as Jews or as non-Jews, since “we are all equal Argentinians.” It noted that out of 30 episodes criticizing aspects of Argentine life, only twice was the negative part personified in Jews.” The channel nevertheless apologized publicly, as the name of one of the villains was similar to that of a well-known Jewish banker here. But the apology was made a week after the broadcast and was little noticed by the general public.
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