B’nai B’rith International is appalled and distressed to learn of two very public anti-Semitic incidents in Panama during the last two weeks.

The first incident involved a Panamanian governor, Omaira Judith Correa Delgado, who called a Jewish journalist a “Gestapo Jew Girl” in retaliation for penning an article the governor did not like. The second incident occurred when La Prensa, the largest daily newspaper in Panama, published a virulently anti-Semitic piece, evoking Holocaust imagery and Jewish stereotypes.

Conjuring Holocaust imagery to attack the Jewish people is reprehensible and should not be tolerated by anyone. The governor, the writer and La Prensa should apologize for their statements and make it clear that such comments have no place in today’s world.