BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The Evangelical Christian community in Argentina will join the Jewish community in a rally in support of Israel.
The rally will take place on Thursday in front of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires under the banner “in solidarity with Israel and for peace.” Evangelical minister Jorge Gomez, vice president of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of Argentina, will speak, the first time an Evangelical clergy member will address a rally organized by the local Jewish community.
The major Argentinian Jewish organizations planned the rally in response to the recent wave of violence in Israel.
Rallies inspired by the current unrest in Israel are also planned in two other South American countries: a pro-Israel rally in Uruguay and an anti-Israel rally in Chile. Facing anonymous calls to violence at the planned anti-Israel demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in the Chilean capital, the Simon Wiesental Center urged President Michelle Bachelet to ban the rally scheduled for Friday.
Ariel Gelblum, the center’s Latin American Representative, called on Chile’s government to “take all necessary measures to maintain social peace and harmony.”
Chile has the largest Palestinian population outside Middle East, including a Palestine soccer club. At least 300,000 Chileans are of Palestinian descent, according to reports.
About 1,000 demonstrators participated in a peaceful rally in support of Israel in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo last week. The Uruguayan daily newspaper El Observador described the rally, sponsored by the Israelite Central Committee, as a “legitimate defense of the Israeli people.”
“We feel a moral duty to speak in support of the State of Israel during this wave of violence,” said Oscar Sapolinski, president of the Youth Zionist Federation of Uruguay, during the Oct. 23 rally.
