The Jewish community here is becoming alarmed over the spread of anti-Semitic accusations reminiscent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion which are apparently being taken seriously by some Argentine leaders and segments of the population. Dr. Sion Cohen Imach, president of the DAIA, the central representative body of Argentine Jewry, called today for a special meeting to deal with the problem.
The allegations of a “Jewish-Zionist” plot to dismember and take over Argentina were first dismissed by the Jewish community as noxious nonsense that nobody would believe. But the allegations have gained widespread circulation in recent weeks and were the subject of sensational headlines several days ago in “Noticias,” a daily published in Tucuman, a city in the northeastern province which has been plagued lately by severe economic and social problems.
MACHINATIONS OF ARAB LEAGUE
The Jewish community leaders attribute the latest manifestation of anti-Semitism to the machinations of the Arab League which is attempting to make Argentine Jews scapegoats for the country’s present political unrest and economic crisis. Hitherto, the Arab League has resorted to slanderous advertisements in leading newspapers without success. Lately, however, its anti-Jewish propaganda has been disseminated by “respectable” public figures who have no visible connection with the League but apparently share its bias.
Allegations of a “Zionist-Jewish” plot were made last month by Dr. Walter Beveraggi Allende, a right-wing politico who is a professor of political economy at Buenos Aires University. They were contained in an open letter he wrote to Jose Rucci, secretary of the Peronista General Confederation of Labor. According to Allende, Jews were plotting to create chaos in the country as the first part of a move to divide it and establish a separate republic to be called “Andinia” in Patagonia, Argentina’s southern-most province.
Allende claimed that the plot was being coordinated by a mysterious “Grand Rabbi Gordon from New York” who allegedly met with Jewish leaders here in 1969. Allende’s letter was reproduced in leaflets circulated here by the thousands. Last week “Noticias” reported on its front page that a Tucuman lawyer, Exequiel Avila Gallo, brought formal charges before Tucuman Federal Judge, Dr. Eduardo Lucio Vallejo, against the “Jewish-Zionist high command in Argentina.”
Gallo’s charges were identical to those in the Allende letter. He demanded that Judge Vallejo order an immediate investigation “with the aid of all security organs and intelligence bodies of the armed forces, federal and local police.” Noticias published a full page reproduction of the Allende letter under the headline “Argentine Self Defense Against Zionist Aggression.”
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.
