This year’s Hanukkah celebrations in Chile were disrupted as a result of a series of antisemitic remarks by local politicians and acts of vandalism, the Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.
Chile is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in South America, at an estimated 16,000 people. This year, Jews observed Hanukkah, the holiday that commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem, between December 25, 2024, and January 2, 2025.
The Jewish holiday celebrations in Chile were marred by public officials making antisemitic remarks and criminals vandalizing public Hanukkah-related installations. The Israeli embassy was forced to cancel a religious event for the holiday just hours before it was scheduled to take place as a result of pressure from local communist politicians and pro-Palestinian groups.
In mid-December, a public menorah was installed in the southern city of Puerto Montt. The menorah was reportedly displayed by the local Council of Evangelical Pastors days before Hanukkah, which started this year on December 25 and coincided with Christmas Day.
On December 17, Chilean Senator Iván Moreira, an anti-Israel lawmaker, expressed outrage at the presence of the public menorah in a now-deleted Twitter post in which he described it as an “emblem of death.”
Moreira complained that the installation was “unacceptable” and publicly denounced it to the nation’s far-left President Gabriel Boric, claiming that the installation was “unacceptable” and that it stood in contradiction of Boric’s “coherent defense of human rights and commitment to the Palestinian people and commitment to the Palestinian people from Israel’s genocide and extermination.”
Boric, a far-left leader, has repeatedly condemned Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas as a “genocide.” Recently, Boric accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being a “war criminal” in remarks given during his participation at a local event titled “Palestinian Christmas: From Bethlehem to Chile, a Light of Hope.”
The senator’s comments received the immediate condemnation of the Chilean Jewish community, which denounced his words as “an open expression of antisemitism and religious intolerance that seeks only to incite hatred and discrimination.” Moreira eventually retracted his statements and deleted the post, but denied being antisemetic and continued to accuse Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Similarly, Jaime Sáez, a member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, condemned the installation of the public menorah by claiming that it alludes to the “genocide of civilians in Gaza.”
“What is the justification for deliberately installing such a sensitive symbol, understanding the heavy burden of the genocide of civilians in Palestine?” Sáez’s message read.
“I hope that this type of gesture is highly debated by those who are responsible for the region and thus not fall into disrespect. We demand that it be clarified as soon as possible,” he continued.
The Puerto Montt public Hanukkah menorah was vandalized at the start of Hanukkah on December 25 with messages that read “Jewish murderers” and splashed with red paint across most of its structure.
“They threw red paint and we are assessing the damage and checking the wiring. So far, the damage is that, because material things can be replaced and recovered, but the moral damage to the free expression of faith is great,” Evangelical Pastor Melo Hernández, who assisted in the installation of the menorah, told local media at the time.
Israeli Ambassador to Chile Gil Artzyeli condemned the events. Artzyeli stated that “most Chileans are not antisemitic, but there are some antisemitic individuals and groups that contaminate this beautiful people, endangering its Jewish community and the international image of the country.”
In the Chilean town of San Antonio, Mayor Omar Vera abruptly suspended a local Hanukkah prayer event that the Israeli embassy had organized for December 30. According to local outlets, the event was abruptly suspended hours before it was scheduled to take place following complaints from the local chapter of the Chilean Communist Party and pro-Palestinian groups that accused the event of “cleaning” the image of Israel amid the “genocide” accusations.
Mayor Vera reportedly decided to suspend the event after “considering the municipal management policy based on dialogue, understanding and respect for peaceful coexistence.”
“In view of the voices against the event, motivated by known international facts, it was decided to suspend both the protocol greeting and the religious activity. The Embassy of Israel in Chile has already been notified,” Vera announced at the time.
The Israeli embassy in Chile condemned the suspension of the local Hanukkah prayer event, stating that such actions violated the “freedom of worship and expression, and constitutes a dangerous precedent that harkens back to dark times when Jews were prevented from expressing their faith and identity in public.”
“Giving in to individuals and groups who, through intimidation, promote censorship, hatred and anti-Semitism, poses a risk to societies that uphold values such as democracy, human rights and diversity,” the embassy wrote on December 31.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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