Hugo Chavez (in healthier days) with Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Photo:Unknown

According to documents leaked on the Argentinean website Analisis 24 , Sebin, the Venezuelan Intelligence Service, was  instructed by the government of Venezuela to spy on members of the Jewish community in the country.

In the past the Anti Defamation League has reported extensively on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has all but disappeared from public view since an operation in Cuba in December, and his a history of anti-Semitism (best exemplified by his alliance with anti-Israel regimes such as Iran).

Abraham Foxman, the ADL National Director, issued a statement Wednesday expressing his concern at the Analisis 24 report.

“We are deeply troubled by a recent news report alleging that the Venezuelan Intelligence Service (SEBIN) is spying on the Venezuelan Jewish community,” he said.

Foxman pointed out Chavez’s anti-Semitic history. “Venezuela under the regime of Hugo Chavez has a history of harassing the Jewish community in that country,” he said. “For more than a decade, elements of the Venezuelan government-run media and the so-called ‘alternative’ media operated by Chavez government supporters have regularly engaged in spreading anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes.

“The Analisis24 article suggests there is an official government policy targeting Venezuela’s Jewish community.  We strongly condemn these dangerous intimidation tactics and call on the current leadership of the Venezuelan government to immediately cease targeting the Jewish community.”