The oldest synagogue in the Chilean capital was vandalized on Saturday with anti-Israel graffiti, including red paint and posters that showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a bullet hole drawn on his forehead.
The posters littered around the Bicur Joilim synagogue in Santiago read “Your silence is cooperation with Israel’s genocide,” in the latest synagogue vandalism to reflect the war in Gaza.
The Masorti synagogue, built in 1930, is located in downtown Santiago and has experienced anti-Israel graffiti at least three other times since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Jewish Community of Chile.
The latest attack took place during Shabbat and triggered recriminations from Jewish voices across the region.
“Chile is a country that values freedom of worship, and that means we must respect, care for, and protect one another, regardless of our beliefs,” the Jewish Community of Chile wrote on social media. “Vandalism of a sacred site is not an attack on a community, but on the coexistence and peace of the entire country.”
The incident comes amid heightened tensions over Chile’s stance on the war in Gaza. President Gabriel Boric has adopted one of the most critical positions toward Israel in Latin America. His left-wing government recalled Chile’s military attachés from Israel, backed legal proceedings against Israeli officials in international courts and imposed an arms embargo.
Chile is home to the third-largest Jewish community in South America, after Argentina and Brazil. The roughly 16,000 Jews living in Chile account for about 0.11% of the country’s population. (Last year, they were joined on Yom Kippur by a famous guest, musician Paul McCartney, who attended services with his Jewish wife at the capital’s largest synagogue, located about 12 miles from Bicur Joilim.)
Chile is also home to the largest Palestinian population outside the Middle East, with estimates of up to 500,000 people; it recognized a Palestinian state in 2011. One of the country’s main soccer team is the Palestinian Sports Club, which wears the colors of the Palestinian flag.
Gabriel Silber, the Jewish community’s director of public affairs, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the government had turned a blind eye toward antisemitic incidents during the war.
“Unfortunately, we see a certain invisibility and denial of this reality by the authorities in our country, which leads to inaction and is a breeding ground for impunity for these serious actions against our community,” Silber said. “Here, the motive for the attacks is not Israel, but Chileans who suffer hatred and constant stigmatization simply for being Jewish. We see no real concern from the Chilean state regarding this issue.”
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