Recent events in Argentina have shown that the situation of the Jews in this country is serious, but it could have been much more grave if the Government had not acted firmly against advocates and practitioners of anti-Semitism, Dr. Isaac Goldenberg, president of the DAIA, central body of organized Argentine Jewry, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here today. “The DAIA,” he stated, “has found a firm and very positive attitude in high Government circles,” he said.
Dr. Goldenberg discussed also the activities of Hussein Triki, Argentine representative of the Arab League. The offensive started by Triki recently against the Jews here, said the DAIA leader, must be viewed in the light of information in the hands of the Jewish organization, showing that Triki had aimed at forming a Nazi-type drive intended to weaken the position of the Jews in this country. However, said Dr. Goldenberg, “Triki has overplayed his hand, so that he has even been disavowed by the Egyptian Embassy here, with which he had been formerly in close contact.”
Nevertheless, Dr. Goldenberg warned, the Arab propaganda did succeed in implanting certain ideas among some members of the Argentine public. He had raised “venomous” questions about sending money from Argentina to Israel through the United campaign; and about alleged Jewish “double loyalty. ” “It will take great effort to clear up the mess that man has stirred up, ” said Dr. Goldenberg.
The Jewish leader noted, on the other hand, that, as Triki was shown to have had connections with the anti-Semitic Tacuara movement, “the police acted with great energy and under strict orders from the Ministry of the Interior as well as President Illia. This is significant, ” he pointed out, “and shows a positive change in official circles, compared with the situation under the Frondizi and Guido governments.”
On the “negative” side, said Dr. Goldenberg, it must be stressed that the Argentine democratic parties have not, up to now, protested the “Nazi deployment.” The difference in the situation now, as compared to two years ago, he said, is that “now the terrorist groups have obtained popular support in certain Peronist, working-class groups.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Leopoldo Duarez, Minister of Defense, charged in a newspaper interview today that the Guardia Restauradora Nationalista–another neo-Fascist group, banned like Tacuara–has infiltrated into police circles. He urged that such infiltrators be “cleared out.”
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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.
