Venezuela - Chavez meets with president of world Jewish congress

Chavez meets with president of world Jewish congress

President Hugo Chavez met President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), Ronald Lauder, and the President of the Latin American Jewish Congress, Jack Terpins, pledging to work together against antsemitism and open up channels of communication despite strong differences on Mideast politics.

Both Chavez and leaders of the World Jewish Congress called the meeting a success.

"There may be some differences of opinion on some issues, on major issues such as Iran and also the Middle East," Michael Schneider, the organization's secretary-general, said after the meeting. "But when it comes to antsemitism, I think we're on the same page."

"We mentioned our concerns about antsemitism and asked him what his position was," Schneider said. "And he said he was certainly not an anti-Semite."

The socialist president said it was a "very important meeting," but did not elaborate.

Schneider said Chavez offered to meet with his Brazilian and Argentine counterparts to jointly condemn "all forms of antsemitism, discrimination against minorities and anti-Muslim sentiment."

Source: The Associated Press

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