‘It’s Becoming Difficult to Be Jewish in Chile’: Community Leaders ‘Horrified’ by Treatment of Israeli Envoy

With a hostile president and the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East, Chile is becoming worrisome for Jews. 

When Gabriel Boric, a left-winger known to be hostile to Israel, was elected president of Chile in December, leaders of the Jewish community were naturally concerned. Nonetheless, they resolved to give the former student leader the benefit of the doubt. 

After his deliberate snub of Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to Santiago, they say, Boric has squandered their goodwill. 

In fact, leaders of Chile’s Jewish community were horrified by the president’s behaviour – denouncing it as “antisemitism” and warning that it could fuel violence and hatred against the country’s tiny Jewish minority. 

With more than 400,000 citizens of Palestinian origin, Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community in the world outside of the Middle East. Boric is known to have very close ties to the Palestinian community, which praised him for refusing to accept the credentials of the Israeli ambassador last week. 

Gabriel Zaliasnik, a former leader of the Jewish community, known for his outspoken criticism of the government, likens the new Chilean president to Jeremy Corbyn, the former British Labour leader widely denounced for enabling antisemitism within the party ranks. “There are many parallels,” Zaliasnik says. 

“It is becoming difficult to be Jewish in Chile, especially a proud Jews,” he adds. “It’s not a nice country for Jewish life – at least at this moment.” 

In the US, President Joe Biden on Thursday told the first-ever White House summit to combat hate-motivated violence that his administration is issuing a historic package of new actions to be taken by the federal government alongside civic, faith, philanthropic and business leaders. 

Biden said his budget increased funding to protect non-profit’s and houses of worship from hate fuelled violence and called for a new era of national service to foster stronger communities and bridge divides. He urged Congress to raise the living allowance for national service positions, and to rid social media companies of special immunity and impose stronger transparency requirements.