Semanariohebreojai interviewed B’nai B’rith Director of Latin American Affairs Eduardo Kohn about surging anti-Semitism across Latin America, particularly in Uruguay. Read the interview in Semanariohebreojai in Spanish, or below in English.

Dr. Eduardo Kohn is a leading figure in Uruguay’s Jewish community. His role as Director of B’nai B’rith Latin America—and his entire trajectory—has made him an in-depth expert on Jewish reality worldwide. It’s clear that one of the issues that most concerns him today is the rise of anti-Semitism in general, and in Latin America in particular.

This interview is about that and much more.

Q: Eduardo, beyond your position in B’nai B’rith Latin America—beyond Uruguay—you are a go-to voice for the media in our country, always with an extraordinary ability to explain complex issues. Since October 7, everything has become more intense. Also in your work for the organization, right?

A: Without a doubt. Since October 7, everything has intensified, and it’s clear that one of the common threads across all our branches is the increase in anti-Semitism. And at B’nai B’rith, which plays a role in international bodies, coordination is key. In Latin America, I’ve been tasked with work related to the OAS, but we also have a role at the United Nations and all its agencies.

Q: How do you see this phenomenon in Latin America in general? And of course, sadly, we can’t leave Uruguay out of the discussion.

A: Latin America in general has a history of anti-Semitism, though of course it depends on the country. Popular anti-Semitism. In Argentina, there’s a history of more than a hundred years of anti-Semitic incidents, especially during the Second World War. Brazil too. After WWII, when Nazi criminals came to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, and so on, we saw this clearly. So there’s a long history. The real issue is whether this history comes with a pressure on Jewish communities that prevents them from living their lives. And in fact, not necessarily prohibition, but an intimidating environment that discourages a normal life in some places. Since October 7, this has reached dimensions that our immigrant parents and grandparents could never have imagined. I didn’t experience this in my childhood or youth in Uruguay, but I think today no one in Latin America is spared from this wave of anti-Semitism—neither from incitement nor from violence.

Q: How do these times compare with the past?

A: During the military dictatorships, for example, which were anti-Semitic in themselves, they didn’t attack the Jewish community as such. But if a Jew was arrested as a communist, he was given “special” treatment. There have been cases of state anti-Semitism—that is extremely serious. Today, in Latin America, there are a number of countries trying to implement state anti-Semitism and, luckily, for now, these attempts haven’t resonated broadly with their populations. And there are clear examples.

Q: Which examples?

A: Brazil—the president hasn’t just attacked Israel, he’s attacked the entire Jewish people, vilified them, insulted Holocaust survivors and the Shoah itself.

Q: Can you remind me of some of the things he said?

A: Yes. He said the State of Israel is a Nazi state, that its leaders are the same as Hitler. I was in Israel when that happened. They asked him to retract and he responded with something obscene, which I wouldn’t repeat in an interview, not even in private. I won’t stoop to his level.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro constantly talks about genocide and a criminal state, also comparing Israel to Nazism. Chile’s President Boric regularly compares Israel to the Nazis. Then there are countries with openly anti-Semitic dictatorships: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua. And now there’s also significant state anti-Semitism in Honduras, for example.

Q: And that poisons society.

A: That is very dangerous because when an average citizen hears the president—an elected president (except in dictatorships, where the dynamic is obviously different)—speaking that way about the State of Israel and the Jews of Israel, and he doesn’t have Israeli Jews around… who does he have around? The Jews living in his country.

In 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas rocket fire from Gaza, Lula said Israel wasn’t defending itself but committing genocide. His anti-Semitism goes back 25 or 30 years. The Brazilian people didn’t follow his lead. And in Uruguay, when then-President Mujica said Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, the Interbalnearia highway was covered with anti-Semitic graffiti. Not about Israel. It said: “Jews, get out of Uruguay.” “Death to Jews,” “Down with the Jews,” “Jews, leave.” Not Israel. And two years later, a “man inspired” said Allah called him, took a knife, and murdered David Fremd in Paysandú. He didn’t kill his son Gabriel too only because Gabriel defended himself. Anti-Semitism has consequences, and we must remember that, also in Uruguay. Those who think Fremd’s murder was just a Jewish community issue are mistaken.

Q: And it’s particularly upsetting to know the murderer is free.

A: Exactly. He was never declared guilty, even though it was a premeditated, violent crime. He was declared unfit to stand trial. A legal textbook example of what not to do. And that meant that after 8 years, the killer was free. It sends a terrible message. So the fact that today Uruguay has ten times more anti-Semitism than ten years ago, during a war that’s lasted more than a year and a half, doesn’t surprise me at all.

On the other hand, let’s remember that President Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, during his two terms, generally maintained balance regarding the Middle East and Uruguay’s position on the conflict.

Q: The problem is that Lula, in Brazil, is also a reference point for Uruguay today, even though President Yamandú Orsi has a very different approach to these issues.

A: That’s true. But when we talk about Brazil and Israel, this has to be said. We can’t forget that in 2005 Lula enthusiastically welcomed then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The thing is that the Latin American left always looked for a leader, and that leader wasn’t coming from Venezuela, no matter how much Chávez tried. The charismatic political leader who also governed a country that’s practically a continent—the largest in Latin America—was Lula. And Brazil is no ordinary country: it’s in the G20, the G7, in very important forums. I think it’s risky for Uruguay, a small country, to align itself exclusively with one leader, because the world has many different currents.

Q: But I think it’s clear that even though Lula is a reference point for President Orsi, he has another style, another approach, another discourse.

A: So far, the President has maintained the balance of a head of state who governs for all Uruguay, not just for one sector, and he sticks to positions that don’t necessarily match his party. For example, the accusation of genocide that so many throw around—you have to back that up, and those who accuse Israel of genocide have no evidence, they trivialize it, banalize it, and have tried to normalize it. In that sense, Uruguay maintains a line—at least from the executive branch. I remember that on October 7 itself, on his Twitter account, Yamandú Orsi—who at the time was the mayor of Canelones—strongly condemned the Hamas pogrom. And that tweet is there. He didn’t use the same terms later on, as time passed, but what’s said is said. This, while just a few days later, the executive secretariat of the Broad Front accused Israel of genocide, even before the ground incursion began.

That shows that already, from October 7—well before March 1, 2025—it was clear that there was at least a difference in perception and vision.

Q: Why is that?

A: I don’t want to speculate lightly because that might be disrespectful to the President, but without a doubt the fact that he was in Israel 10 days before October 7—on a trip where he visited kibbutzim near Gaza—gave him perspective. I think he saw that it’s not so simple to issue statements like those from the party leadership, which had no idea what was happening and no respect—even before the massacre victims could be buried—they were already issuing such pronouncements. The third point is that both he and others know perfectly well that in February 2020, 10 days before the end of President Vázquez’s term, Uruguay signed on to the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism—the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Q: That was a milestone. That definition makes it clear that demonizing Israel is also a form of anti-Jewish hatred.

A: Many people didn’t expect that to happen at that time, because there were only 10 days left in his term, but he signed it. And Uruguay hasn’t repealed it, erased it, or removed it. Not even the government that came after, under Lacalle Pou. So both the party leadership and the current president know perfectly well that calling Zionism a version of Nazism is a form of anti-Semitism, not simply anti-Zionism. But things still happen. So, I think that the position held by the Broad Front under Vázquez is the one the President now adheres to more than the party itself, without a doubt.

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October 7 and the Jewish World

Q: What impact do you think October 7 had on the Jewish world, on the Diaspora?

A: I think the Diaspora is still trying to understand what it did to us. Not all communities—because some, for example in France or Spain, with their terrible traditions of anti-Semitism, already know very well. Not all Diasporas are the same. I think in Latin America we are still processing it. This is the kind of shock that you don’t recover from with six months of therapy. Most of the Diaspora has been to Israel, visited their families, their friends, whoever—and they fully understand the rupture that Israeli society has suffered, which it is still living through because the war isn’t over.

Q: Diaspora communities have suffered and continue to suffer the aftershocks of that horror.

A: The Diaspora is still processing it. And we never imagined that there wouldn’t just be a wave of anti-Semitism—there’s always been something—but a tsunami. And when a tsunami comes, it sweeps away people, buildings, houses, everything. The anti-Semitism that erupted afterward—which was clearly very organized in some countries, like in American universities more than in others—caught us off guard, unprepared. We are still trying to understand it.

Q: And how do you see, in light of all this, the perception of Israel’s role in Jewish life?

A: I think there are many debates in the Diaspora. It didn’t help to see Israel falter—that weakens the communities. Seeing all those internal debates, it’s not easy. Israel is a democratic country, no matter how much anti-Semites hate that fact. Very democratic. Everything is discussed openly, published openly. The arguments are intense—between government and opposition, the government and the army, everyone—and it all comes out publicly and globally. Diaspora Jews wonder how this can happen and why. In some cases there’s a sense of weakness, in others a lot of doubt, but there’s also understanding that you can’t ask Israel to give more than it can. Israel is at war. But still, the Jewish world wants Israel to protect them.

Q: Another challenge…

A: Yes. Israel will protect you if it can, but first it has to defend itself to be able to protect you. So I think this is also a process. In Latin America, I think there are several communities now realizing that we have a role that maybe we aren’t fulfilling adequately in defending Israel’s right to defend itself, and its right to be democratic and to say publicly what must be said.

In that sense, I think the North American Diaspora is suffering more. There are more cracks there because it seemed that this erupted suddenly, but in reality, it’s been building for a long time and they didn’t see it. That also shows a significant weakness. So, all of this takes time. And in the meantime, we have to try to soften the blows and heal the wounds that have already been inflicted.

Q: Your main conclusion about this extraordinary situation?

A: We have to understand that there is one Jewish people, one Jewish nation. Those who don’t understand that there is one Jewish nation—and that the 14, 15, or 16 million of us are one nation—are going to feel very bad, and eventually they’ll end up on the side of the rift that collapses. But I am confident no one will fall.

Q: Amen to that. Thank you so much, Eduardo.

A: Thank you, Ana.