Argentine president Javier Milei has repeatedly expressed willingness to convert to Judaism, engaging with a sector of the country's Jewish community and often quoting the Old Testament.
However, his administration has already appointed two different people who have made openly antisemitic remarks, drawing a sharp rebuke from community members. Authorities confirmed on Monday that the next Worship secretary will be former Congressman Francisco Sánchez.
Shortly after the appointment was made public, Agencia Judía de Noticias, a media outlet covering the country's Jewish community, published a video in which Sánchez can be seen talking with a woman who goes by the name Delfina Wagner about antisemitic conspiracy theories.
You can see Soros as one of the ringleaders. But there are many others. The Rothchild family , the Gates', Kissinger, the Rockefellers. There are many powerful people around the world (...) making decisions about the states' sovereignty and people's individual liberties as well," Sánchez can be heard saying.
His interlocutor adds that "these are all people who operate as agents of international Zionism. It translates into the organizations we know. Amnesty International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations, all of those terrible organizations."
La designación del nuevo secretario de Culto generó molestia en parte de la comunidad judía argentina @FranSanchezNQN @DAIAArgentina @PatoBullrich @JMilei Leer más: https://t.co/cuI8mrt9qt pic.twitter.com/DES25WDhIp
— Agencia AJN (@AgenciaAJN) January 15, 2024
The Milei administration has not made any public statements regarding Sánchez's statements. However, this is not the first appointed official to be involved in antisemitic activities, as the country's current solicitor general is Rodolfo Barra, who almost 39 years ago resigned to another top government position amid outcry over his neo-Nazi past.
Barra, the government's top lawyer, was a Supreme Court minister during the early 1990s, a member of the Constitutional Assembly in 1994 and appointed as Justice Minister that same year during the Carlos Menem administration.
Barra held the post for two years until the surfacing of his past, when outlet Página 12 revealed he was part of an organization that was involved in an attack against a Synagogue. Days before, investigative magazine Noticias had published a picture of him doing a Nazi salute as part of a cover article titled "Herr Minister." "Yes, I was a Nazi, I regret it," said Barra when leaving his post in 1996.
Shortly after the announcement, the Argentine Forum Against Antisemitism issued a statement voicing its "deep concern and rejection" to it. "We consider this election to be a direct offense to the democratic and plural spirit of our country. It is inadmissible that a person with a past tied to the Tacuara Nationalist Movement, which leaned towards Nazism, is appointed to such an office. We firmly demand he be reconsidered," the statement said.
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