Politics
January 06

Venezuela rejects Israeli attack on Gaza
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused Israel of perpetrating a massacre in Palestine and of being a "murderer" and "genocidal" government and urged nations to call for end of invasion in Gaza Strip.  

He denounced that Israel is engaged in "a real massacre." He also said that "they were bombing every 15 minutes. Now they are launching a land invasion in the Gaza Strip... This attack is supported and driven forward by the government of the United States," AP reported.  

"We must denounce the government of Israel as a murderer government, a genocidal government and the world should stand up. The United Nations, the governments of  Europe, the Middle East, and the great countries of the world, we should all speak up and demand the end of the invasion of Gaza Strip and the killing of thousands of innocents," he said.

Chávez calls upon Venezuelan Jews to reject Israeli attack on Gaza
President Hugo Chávez rejected again Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people in Gaza. He asked the Jewish-Venezuelan community "to be honest" and reject the Israeli attacks, the same way they reject persecutions and the Holocaust.

"There is a Palestinian community in Venezuela that we appreciate and love. We also love the Jewish community, but we hope they express their outrage against this atrocity. Please, do it. Don't you strongly reject any acts of persecution and the Holocaust? What's happening in Gaza? Please, be honest and be fair," said the Venezuelan President.

Chávez added that the Venezuelan position regarding the Gaza Strip conflict is already known. He insisted that some sectors have remained quiet, which he term regrettable. 

Government expels Israel's ambassador in solidarity with Palestine
The Venezuelan government, in a communiqué issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, resolved to expel the Israeli ambassador and his staff in solidarity with the Palestinian people and urged the United Nations Security Council to take action in order to stop the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip.

"The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has decided to expel the ambassador of Israel and part of the staff of the embassy of Israel to Venezuela, reasserting its vocation of peace and requirement of the international law," the notice explained.

Also, the government asked the UN Security Council to "implement urgent, necessary measures to stop the invasion of the Israel's state of the Palestinian territory."

January 07

Israel mulls over expulsion of Venezuelan ambassador
Israel on Wednesday, January 07 harshly replied to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, following his decision to expel the Israeli ambassador from Caracas, and is pondering the possibility to take the same action against the Venezuelan envoy in the Jewish state. 

"We have not yet decided what to do, but we are very likely to react the same way," spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry Yigal Palmor told news agency DPA.

"The brutal behavior of President Chávez honors neither his country nor the friendly people of Venezuela, with whom we have and wish to keep a friendly relationship forever. Anyone having fundamentalists and extremists as allies does not honor his country or his people," Palmor stressed. 

Venezuelan Bishops' Conference regrets deaths in Gaza; calls to stop conflict
Monsignor Ubaldo Santana, chair of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference (CEV), at the opening session of the 91st General Assembly of CEV voiced concern about deaths in Gaza amidst the conflict with Israel. Santana hoped that the two parties can find a quick solution to the crisis.  

"We are concerned about the conflict that has erupted in the Middle East because Venezuelans are peaceful women and men that support coexistence; we have learned that the price of peace is expensive; we are concerned about the deaths that have occurred, especially on the Palestinian side. Therefore, we expect that the conflicting parties sit together and find fair, peaceful and, above all, stable solutions," he said. 

Hamas welcomes Chávez's decision to expel Israeli envoy
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas welcomed on Wednesday Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's "brave" initiative both to expel the Israeli Ambassador and condemn the "cowardly Zionist aggression" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas welcomes the bold step taken by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to expel the Israeli ambassador and to condemn the cowardly Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip," the group said in a statement posted on its website, AFP reported.  

At the same time, the head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, urged Arab countries (referring especially to Egypt and Jordan which maintain diplomatic relations with the Hebrew state) to follow the example of Chávez.

January 08

Venezuelan diplomatic experts urge govn't to reconsider expulsion of Israeli envoy
The Venezuelan Association of International Affairs Experts rejected the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Venezuela, arguing that the move runs counter to the neutral stance Venezuela has historically taken in international conflicts, and urged the government to reconsider the decision. 

The Association said in a statement that the removal of a diplomatic envoy does not pave the way to solve any dispute. 

"We urge the government to reconsider the move and foster negotiations that help solve the issue, rather than worsening things," read the statement.

Jordan welcomes Venezuela's move to expel Israeli envoy
Hundreds of Jordanians marched Thursday, January 08 to the Venezuelan embassy in Amman, the Jordanian capital, some of them carrying flowers, to thank the Venezuelan government for breaking diplomatic ties with Israel in protest against the high number of civilian casualties caused by the Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip.   

Demonstrators shouted slogans and carried banners welcoming the steps taken by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and calling for Arab countries to break diplomatic relations with Israel, following the example of Venezuela, DPA reported. 

The Jordanian Islamic Action Front (IAF), the largest political party in Jordan, also hailed the measure taken by the Latin American country. "The decision represents a light of hope in the darkness of the forces of arrogance and the parties that serve it," said the secretary general of IAF, Zaki Bani Ershaid, in a letter to Chávez.

Expulsion of Venezuelan diplomats from Israel depends on Tzipi Livni
The decision to expel Venezuela's top diplomatic official from Israel, in reciprocity for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in Caracas, Shlomo Cohen, depends on Israel's Foreign Minister and acting Prime Minister Tzipi Livni.

Israeli diplomatic sources who asked for anonymity told EFE that the Israeli Foreign Ministry has already taken the decision "in principle" of endorsing "the practice of reciprocity," but "such decisions can only be adopted by the Minister."

Chargé d'Affairs Roland Betancourt is the only Venezuelan diplomat in Israel, because President Hugo Chávez has been gradually reducing the hierarchical level of Venezuelan delegation in Tel Aviv since 2004.

Lebanese road named after Hugo Chávez
A Lebanese municipality has named its main road after Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to honor the Venezuelan government decision to expel the Israeli ambassador in solidarity with Gaza Strip.

As reported on Thursday by the Lebanese national news agency ANN, the city of Al Bira in northern Lebanon made the decision to honor the "historical initiative" of Venezuela on behalf of Gaza, Efe reported.

"As a token of appreciation for his historical initiative of having expelled the Israeli ambassador from his country in reply to Israel's massacres against the Palestinian people in Gaza, we resolved to name the main road of Al Bira after the Venezuelan president," said the municipality in a press release.

January 09

Israeli ambassador Shlomo Cohen is leaving Venezuela
Israel's ambassador to Venezuela Shlomo Cohen is leaving the country Friday, January 09 following the order of expulsion issued last Tuesday by President Hugo Chávez in protest for the shelling of Gaza by the Israeli Army. 

The 72-hour deadline given to Ambassador Cohen lo leave the country ends on Friday and also affects most of the diplomatic staff of the embassy, EFE reported. 

Cohen has refused to comment on the expulsion order.  

Israel's embassy remains closed and, although it is protected by a police squad, it was painted with graffiti condemning Israel's action in Gaza Strip.  

Jewish community in Venezuela bid farewell to Israeli ambassador
Leaders of the Jewish-Venezuelan community bid farewell to Israeli ambassador a few hours before his depart from the South American country, after being expelled by the government of President Hugo Chávez in protest against Israel's military attacks on Gaza Strip.  

"I am sad and grieved... I have to leave, but I am taking with me some great memories of this country," said Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Cohen after a farewell ceremony held in the Social, Cultural and Sports Center Hebraica in Caracas, where business leaders, artists and diplomats of Jewish descent bid him an emotional farewell. The attendants included pro-government legislator Carlos Espinosa León, AP reported.

"We are not leaving the country with hatred or rancor. On the contrary, we have much appreciation for the Venezuelan people.  We'll leave the country satisfied, with many friends. I am looking forward to returning as an ordinary citizen," said the diplomat, some hours before leaving the country along with his wife Edna and one of their children.

Venezuela violates Declaration against Anti-Semitism, say Jews
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization, urged the governments of Argentina and Brazil to denounce the Venezuelan government for having violated the Declaration against Anti-Semitism, in a communiqué released on Friday, January 09 in Buenos Aires.

The organization, which gathers more than 400,000 members, feels that Venezuela violated the undertaking executed at the end of 2008 by Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela to condemn racism, religious intolerance, racial discrimination and related intolerance, AFP quoted.

"The decision to expel Israel's ambassador to Caracas and support a terrorist group like Hammas, which quotes in its founding charter an anti-Semitic text like the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Sion, reverses the commitment made by President (Hugo) Chávez less than one month ago," added the notice.