Countries from Mexico south have significant Jewish populations and have played important roles in Jewish history, from the high of Guatemala’s Jorge García-Granados casting the first U.N. vote in 1947 for the creation of Israel to the low of Hezbollah bombing the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and the AMIA Jewish center in 1994 in Argentina. Today, Mexico’s president-elect is a Jewish woman, but Jewish communities face rising antisemitism. In response to the war Hamas started Oct. 7 by killing 1,200 people in Israel and taking more than 240 hostages, Colombia, Bolivia and Belize have cut diplomatic relations with Israel. Brazil has withdrawn its ambassador. But Argentina’s president has promised to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. Shedding light on the varieties of Latin American relations with Israel and the condition of Jewish communities are Carrie Filipetti, the executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a former State Department official focused on the Western Hemisphere; Eduardo Kohn, B’nai B’rith International’s Latin American director; Leah Soibel, the founder and CEO of nonprofit media organization Fuente Latina; and Dr. Daniel Fainstein, the dean of Jewish studies at Hebraica University in Mexico City. Moderating the webinar Wednesday, July 3, is Dr. Ken Stein, CIE’s president and an Emory University emeritus professor of Middle East history, political science and Israel studies.
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