Maduro: I'm Not Anti-Semitic; My Grandparents Were Jewish

Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has denied accusations that he is anti-Semitic and claimed that he is, in fact, of Sephardic Jewish descent, according to a report in the Venezuelan news site Apporea.

Maduro, who won an election last month in which he succeeded Hugo Chavez who passed away in March, dismissed allegations by Claudio Epelman, director of the Latin American Jewish Congress.

Apporea quoted Epelman as having said, during the recent World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, that the growing ties between Iran and various Latin American countries, especially Venezuela, "are driving the rise of anti-Semitism in the region.”