The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called a police raid at a Jewish community center in Caracas "inexplicable and unjustifiable" and joined the Venezuelan Jewish community's call for a formal investigation.
"We are outraged by the inexplicable raid on Club Hebraica and are deeply concerned that the Jewish community in Venezuela is once again the target of intimidation," said ADL National Chair Glen Lewy and National Director Abraham Foxman. "Such tactics have no place in a democratic society where civility, liberty and social justice should prevail."
In a letter to President Hugo Chavez in response to the raid, Foxman and Lewy wrote: "It is troubling that anti-Semitism continues to be used as a political tool in your country. There is a danger that acts by law enforcement officers, such as the raid on Club Hebraica, may be interpreted by others to justify violence against Jews in Venezuela. We join the Confederación de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela in their denunciation of the raid as an unjustifiable act against the Venezuelan Jewish community. We join them in their call to investigate these acts, which create unnecessary tensions between Venezuelan Jews and the Venezuelan government."
