Venezuelan Jews said the Simon Wiesenthal Center rushed to judgment when it accused the country’s president of making anti-Semitic remarks. The Forward reported that Venezuelan Jewish leaders and some American Jewish groups were writing to the center to say that it had misinterpreted Hugo Chavez’s remarks in a Christmas Eve speech, and had thereby “interfered in the political status, in the security, and in the well-being of our community.” Chavez had said that while the world offers riches to all, “minorities such as the descendants of those who crucified Christ” have become “the owners of the riches of the world.”
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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.