http://forward.pmailus.com/pmailweb/ct?d=BZ0gyQADAAL-----AACMNw
Forward Logo Founded in 1897-Published in New York
News </main/section.php?section=News> Venezuela's Jews Defend Leftist President in Flap Over Remarks By MARC PERELMAN January 13, 2006
The Venezuelan Jewish community leadership and several major American Jewish groups are accusing the Simon Wiesenthal Center of rushing to judgment by charging Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, with making antisemitic remarks.
Officials of the leading organization of Venezuelan Jewry were preparing a letter this week to the center, complaining that it had misinterpreted Chavez's words and had failed to consult with them before attacking the Venezuelan president.
"You have interfered in the political status, in the security, and in the well-being of our community. You have acted on your own, without consulting us, on issues that you don't know or understand," states a draft of the letter obtained by the Forward. Copies of the letter are also to be sent to the heads of the World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee, among other Jewish groups.
[....]