May 21, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush celebrated Cuban Independence Day yesterday by calling for the overthrow of Fidel Castro and blasting the Cuban dictatorship.
"Dictatorships have no place in the Americas. May God bless the Cuban people who are struggling for freedom," Bush said in a 40-second message broadcast on U.S.-funded Radio Marti, which is beamed into Cuba.
Say It Ain’t So, Abraham Foxman
Myles B. Kantor
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Dear Mr. Foxman:
You are the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, which describes itself as “the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism.” Your organization accordingly speaks out often on this matter.
For example, on February 12, 2003 you asked Greek Prime Minister Constantine Simitis to “set a tone of tolerance” in Greece, referring to how “Blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric in the Greek press or by public officials is excused as legitimate expressions of criticism of Israel.” You noted that “such articles and depictions in the media create an environment of hostility toward Israel and Jews in Greece.”
Yet the Anti-Defamation League ignores the incitement of such hostility in Cuba.
Here are some recent headlines in Cuba’s main newspaper, Granma International (state-controlled like all Cuban media):
“Israeli army murders three Palestinians and annuls United Nations operations in Gaza” (May 13)
“Israeli repression intensifies against the Palestinian population” (May 9)
“Israeli soldiers murder Palestinian adolescent in West Bank” (May 5)
“The massacre of Palestinians murdered increases by five” (April 21)
Headlines last year included:
“Israeli army continues killing Palestinian children” (December 20)
“Israeli genocide continues against the Palestinian people” (August 30)
“Crusade against the Arab people from Washington and Tel Aviv” (August 21)
“Sharon announces continuation of Palestinian holocaust” (April 9)
Recent coverage on Cuban television includes “Israeli army murders three Palestinians in Gaza” (May 14) and “Many pundits doubt success for Israeli-Palestinian peace process following recent statements by the Zionist regime, continued aggressions against the Palestinian people” (May 13).
An especially anti-Semitic media functionary is radio commentator Eduardo Dimas, who on March 3 claimed that “American and Jewish money seek to expand its global reach.” On April 29 he claimed that “the replacement of Yassir Arafat is part of the U.S.-Israeli plan to impose the power of the empire.”
With his assertions of a Jewish plot for global economic and political control, Dimas is in the virulent tradition of Joseph Goebbels and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
The Cuban media’s anti-Semitism reflects the autocrat who subjugates Cuba. For decades Fidel Castro has accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians and supported Arab terrorists and regimes like Iraq under Saddam Hussein. (Castro saved Hussein’s life in the 1980s when he sent a surgeon to remove a tumor in his back.)
Books Cuba has published on Israel include “Zionism: The Fascism of the Star of David” and “The Other Face: The Truth about the Secret Relationships between Nazism and Zionism” – the latter a work of Holocaust denial by the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
Cuban Jews cannot speak out against Castro’s demonization of Israel. As Cuban Jew Tony Fune has courageously said, “I understand that we have no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom to travel, no freedom to choose how we will educate our children. And I understand that's not right.”
Imagine the stigma of being a Jew in Cuba.
Imagine how you would feel if a newspaper compared Israel to Nazi Germany and you could not object.
Imagine how you would feel if a radio host talked about “Jewish money seeking to expand its global reach” and you could not object.
“Say it ain’t so, Mr. President,” you concluded in a 1985 letter to Ronald Reagan before his visit to a German military cemetery that contained members of the SS.
Now I say to you: Say it ain’t so, Mr. Foxman.
Say you’re not indifferent to the barrage of venom Cuban Jews endure.
Say you’re not indifferent to the Castro regime’s incitement of anti-Semitism.
Our captive brethren in Cuba need solidarity. Where is yours?
Contact Myles Kantor at
kantor@FreeEmigration.com.