Argentineans raise flag
Argentineans raise flagReuters

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced “the repeated use of Holocaust-language” on the Contexto magazine website, based in the Argentine province of Tucuman, saying such terminology amounts to ethnic and religious slurs.

In a letter to Contexto Magazine Director Tomás Luciani, Director for International Relations of the Wiesenthal Center, Shimon Samuels and the Center’s Latin American Director, Sergio Widder, charged that, “the repeated use of Holocaust-language to describe the administration of Governor José Alperovich and his wife, Senator Beatriz Rojkes de Alperovich – both Jewish – was an ethnic/religious slur."

The Center pointed to comparisons between the Governor and Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, which include libelous characterizations of greed and obsession with money and gold.

Aside from the articles produced by the website itself, there are countless anti-Semitic comments by readers, which remain uncontrolled by the website’s editor.

“Our Center champions freedom of expression and the right to criticize government officials and policy. Nevertheless, direct stereotyping and ad hominem racism of this nature can only encourage violence,” argued Samuels.

“Indeed this discourse puts the entire Jewish community of Tucuman at risk. Its anti-Semitic incitement renders Contexto magazine complicit in sharing responsibility for any eventual assault on Jewish institutions or individuals in the province,” added Widder.

“We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community of Tucuman, and urge Mr. Luciani to publically apologize for the anti-Jewish incitement on his magazine website and announce that access to third parties who wish to use it as a platform for hate is henceforth banned. We will continue to monitor Contexto and sights to which it is link,” they concluded.