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Anti-Jewish statements in Honduras raise concerns

Police stand guard outside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Sunday, where ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya remains. PHOTO: EPA

A Jewish civil rights organization has expressed alarm over conspiracy theories claiming Jews and Israel aided the ouster of the Honduran president and is attempting to dislodge him from his refuge in the Brazilian embassy.

The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) cited statements made by ousted president Manuel Zelaya as well as the news director of a radio station that was closed by the interim government in Honduras and by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among others.

Most of the comments repeat widely circulated rumors that Israeli soldiers — or in some versions, mercenaries — worked with the troops backing interim President Roberto Micheletti, allegedly supplying some form of tear gas used at the embassy and providing other assistance.

The interim government, which came to power after the military arrested Zelaya and flew him to exile in Costa Rica on June 28, has denied receiving any Israeli help or using any tear gas at the embassy. Journalists who have covered the political crisis say they have not seen any sign of Israeli involvement.

The Jewish group also criticized Chavez for claiming at the UN that Israel is the only country to recognize the coup-installed government, something Micheletti’s administration has denied.

The ADL also cited an interview with the Miami Herald in which Zelaya said that “Israeli mercenaries are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.”

“We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat,” ADL national director Abraham Foxman, said in a statement released on Sunday. “And that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority.”

The group estimates the Central American country is home to less than 100 families in a population of about 8 million.

Chavez, a Zelaya ally, has repeatedly criticized Israel, while insisting he is not anti-Semitic.

Zelaya, responding to a copy of the ADL report sent to him in the embassy by The Associated Press, said he “profoundly respects people who practice other religions.”

He noted he had been criticized by anti-Semites for including several Jews in his Cabinet.

“As a human being and president, I call on all Hondurans to abstain from making any anti-Semitic comments,” Zelaya said in a statement.

Among the remarks criticized by the ADL is a statement by David Romero, news director of Radio Globo, which supports Zelaya.

On Sept. 25, commenting on the rumors alleging Israeli involvement in the crisis, Romero referred on air to the “famous Holocaust” and added: “I believe it should have been fair and valid to let Hitler finish his historic vision.”

Romero apologized for the remarks on Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press, saying that they were “stupid” statements made in the heat of the moment and that don’t reflect his real views.

He said his grandfather was a Jewish immigrant from Czechoslovakia who came to Honduras to escape persecution in Europe.

“I apologize to the Jewish community here and throughout the world,” Romero said.

Meanwhile, Zelaya on Sunday called on the interim government to restore civil liberties and withdraw soldiers surrounding his Brazilian embassy refuge as a precondition for talks aimed at solving the political crisis.

Representatives of Zelaya and the military-supported interim Honduran regime agreed to restart talks this week, without setting a date, to restore democracy.

Ninety percent of the issues holding up negotiations “have been resolved,” Zelaya said in a telephone interview from inside the Brazilian embassy.

But if the remaining 10 percent “is an obstacle, then one has to trust the ... international community to continue pressuring” the regime, he said.

Zelaya said that in order to begin a “sincere” dialogue with the interim government, civil liberties must be restored; two pro-Zelaya broadcast stations the regime took over must re-open; soldiers must withdraw from around the Brazilian embassy; and he must be allowed to chose his representatives for the negotiations.

Zelaya and 60 aides and reporters are surrounded at the embassy “where they have us imprisoned like in a concentration camp” — and members of his Cabinet have been not been allowed entry, he said.
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